All About Change
by aks100
Summary: It's seventh year, James' last chance, can he finally win Lily over? LEJP, SBOC....PLease read and review...pre HBP
1. Default Chapter

A/N:- Hi this is my first fan fic on this website so I don't really know how you use get everything sorted so bare with me while I get adjusted to this website. Please read and review,

The great hall was filled with laughter and talk as students caught up with what had happened over their summer holiday. On the Gryffindor table a group of four seventh year boys, called the Marauders, were laughing and scheming for a new prank to pull on the hated Slytherins. The two that were doing the most scheming were two boys James Potter and Sirius Black. James had very messy black hair and he would occasionally ruffle it to make it messier. He had black rimmed glasses and dark brown eyes that were filled with joy and laughter. Sirius also had black hair but unlike James' it fell with an elegant grace over his eyes, giving him a slightly mysterious but incredibly hansom look. James and Sirius were two of the best looking boys along with Remus Lupin. Remus Lupin was sitting opposite James and was just finishing off the food on his plate. Remus had sandy brown hair. He looked slightly tired but that was understandable to the other three boys he sat with. All three had very good builds for boys their age, they were strong and fit.

"Did you hear what Snivellus said on the train?" James said to Sirius and Remus. The fourth boy looked up curiously, interested in what James had to say. The fourth boy was Peter Pettigrew. He looked different from the three lean good looking boys. Peter was short and chubby, he had watery eyes and wasn't all that attractive. While James, Sirius and Remus could get any girls they wanted Peter was always left out and had only had a few girlfriends in the past.

"Was it something about your precious Lily?" Sirius said in mocking baby voice. James punched his arm.

"No, well yes. He was talking about getting revenge on all the 'Mudbloods' in the school." James said.

"Watch your language, James" Sirius said in mock shock.

"But I think he deserves a particular punishment." James said.

"Too right. I think I know exactly what it is. Give me a day" Sirius said. Remus gave him a curious look.

"You aren't going to blow up their puddings again are you?" Remus said smiling. Sirius grinned as he remembered the day when James and himself had put a spell on the Slytherin's food, causing it to explode in their faces.

"No, something different." Sirius said, stuffing a chicken leg into his mouth. They didn't say anymore as the headmaster stood up and cleared his throat. The hall went silent as everyone listened to what the old headmaster had to say. Albus Dumbledore was a very old wizard who had long silvery hair and a long silvery beard. The Marauders often caused trouble but the headmaster never seemed to mind, in fact he quite enjoyed their pranks. Albus Dumbledore looked over the students, his bright blue eyes glittered over his half moon glasses.

"I hope you all enjoyed the feast. I will ask the Prefects to escort you all to your common rooms. But before you go I would like to ask the head students to come to my office, I would like to take up a few moments of your time if you don't mind." James got up.

"That's my cue." He said. Sirius looked up at him pretending to wipe a tear from his eyes.

"My baby is all grown up and becoming head boy." He said. James' eyes narrowed and he gave Sirius another punch. "Hey!" Remus laughed and James grinned.

"Serves you right." James said. Everyone was starting to file out of the hall.

"I wonder who's head Girl." Sirius said.

"I think I know." Remus said. Sirius and James both looked at him. "Who is the smartest girl in our year?"

"Lily" James said smiling. Sirius looked at James slightly worried

"I think you have a meeting to get to." Peter mumbled.

"Oh yeah. See you guys in a bit." James said jumping over the seats and rushing to the headmaster's office. He was walking down the corridor when he saw a female student standing by the Gargoyle that guarded the headmaster's office. She had rich dark red hair that fell to half way down her back. Even from James' distance he could see her glittering green eyes. She was slim and incredibly beautiful. She was a few inches smaller then James.

"Evans, so you made head girl." James commented the girl looked at James in Horror.

"What are you doing here Potter?" She asked slightly horrified. James pointed out his head boy badge and she frowned.

"Head boy, it seems that we'll be spending a lot more time together this year my Lily flower." James said. Lily glared at him.

"Don't call me that. My name is Lily or in your case Evans." She said harshly. James put a hand to his heart and pretended to be hurt.

"You kill me Evans." He said. Lily opened her mouth to say something but the Gargoyle moved and a set of steps appeared. "Come on Evans." James said pulling Lily after him up the stairs.

"Let go, I can walk you know." She said.

"I was afraid of that" James said. Lily ignored this comment as they walked into Dumbledore's office. It was filled with portraits of the past headmasters and head mistresses. In the middle was a large desk with a bird perch next to it with an amazing red and gold Phoenix. The room was filled with various metal objects that James had no idea what they were.

"Ah, I see our two new head students have come." Dumbledore said, coming into the room behind them. Lily and James turned casually

"Hello Professor." James said brightly.

"Good Evening Mr. Potter. Planning any new tricks?" Dumbledore asked. James Grinned and tapped his nose. Lily rolled her eyes and looked away.

"I'm glad you both decided to come. I am fully aware of your relationship with each other."

"Which relationship?" James asked.

"Exactly, well I will be needing you two to assist me in planning the Hogsmeade trips and I feel like having a ball this year so it will be up to you when you hold it." Dumbledore said walking around his desk and sitting in his seat.

"A ball?" Lily asked. Dumbledore smiled

"Yes, a ball. I was sitting in my office over the summer when I had the sudden desire to try and match my students together and form couples. It will be a chance for students to get to know each other." Dumbledore said smiling.

"A Valentines day ball." James said.

"That will be up to you and Miss. Evans to decide. Professor McGonagall and I will be holding a Prefects meeting in a week, I would like you to inform the prefects." Dumbledore said. 

"Yes Professor." Lily said.

"Good, now you may go and catch up with your friends" He said. Lily and James turned to go and walked back to the Gryffindor Common room. James had to resist the temptation to grab Lily and just kiss her. He had been resisting the urge for Six years. This year was going to be different. He was going to kiss her but not now.

"So how was your holiday Evans?" James asked. Lily gave him a side glance.

"It was great until you turned up on my sister's birthday." Lily said. James grinned.

"I just wanted to show you that I could apparate." He said.

"What made you think that I would be interested?" Lily asked crossing her arms as they walked.

"I also wanted to party a little" James said. He knew that Lily hated him and was surprised when he turned up with Sirius at her older sister's party but what he didn't know was that Lily had nearly been beaten up for it. Another reason for her to hate James. Lily and her sister Petunia had the worst relationship. Petunia and James were the only people Lily didn't like. 

"So, did you get my letters?" James asked after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

"Yes I did. I thought I told you so many times that I don't care about Quidditch or you and your friends going to Egypt." Lily said as they approached the portrait of the Fat Lady that protected the Gryffindor Common room.

"I got you a present." James said. Lily stopped and looked at him.

"You did?" Lily asked slightly touched. James nodded and leaned forwards and gave Lily a quick kiss on the lips. Lily pushed him away and looked at him disgusted. James looked at her hopefully but received a slap.

"Animagus" Lily said. The Fat Lady swung open and Lily stormed through.

"I'd stop trying with her." The Fat lady said to James.

"I'm not giving up." James said determined as he followed Lily into the Common Room.


	2. First day of School

The Gryffindor Common room was decorated with gold and red, the colours of Gryffindor. The other Three Marauders were sitting by the large fire and had a few bits of parchment out. James walked over and joined them. Remus looked at him as he sat down and noticed James' cheek was slightly red.

"What happened to your cheek?" Remus asked.

"Got slapped." James said almost proudly. Sirius and Peter looked up at this.

"By who?" Peter asked.

"Guess?" Sirius said hitting Peter like it was obvious. Peter still looked confused. "Lily, you idiot" Sirius said good-humoured. James couldn't hide anything from Sirius.

"Yeah." James said. He looked at the Parchment. "So what's the Plan?"

*    *     *     *

"I can't believe him." Lily ranted as she paced her Dormitory. Her best friends April Marsden and Jenny Chang sat on Jenny's bed watching Lily.

"Less then an hour and she's already at it" April muttered. April was a tall attractive blond haired beauty, her eyes were brown, speckled with green and she was slim and popular with the boys. Jenny, who was watching Lily amused, was a Chinese girl, who was just as clever as Lily. Jenny had long black hair and dark brown eyes. The three girls were all quite popular but only April exploited their popularity by dating quite a few guys but she never went very far with any of them. All three were sensible enough to realize when a guy was pushing them too far.

Jenny laughed slightly and Lily turned to them.

"It's not funny." Lily said.

"Lily, get a grip, it's just Potter" April said. "When did he annoy you so much?"

"Since he turned up at Petunia's party." Lily said sitting on her bed. April had been at Lily's house when that happened. "And then he tried to kiss me outside the common room." Jenny looked at Lily interested.

"What happened?" She asked Lily eagerly.

"Nothing, well I did slap him" Lily said with a slight smile. April rolled her eyes.

"Lily, if you want a boyfriend you have to stop slapping the ones who make a move on you."  April said.

"I don't want a boyfriend" Lily said. "I want to concentrate on my work."

"You're head girl, what else do you want?" April said.

"I want a good job, I want to show Petunia up as a loser." Lily muttered.

"Sister rivalry." Jenny said. "I got that when my sister was sorted into Ravenclaw." Jenny's younger sister, Lee, was two years younger then them and was a very smart girl. Jenny also had an older brother who was five years older then they were but they never spoke about him because he lived in China so there was nothing to talk about.

"Yeah, and look at Jenny and Lee now." April said. Lily looked at April, "No, you're right, there's no hope for you and Petunia." April said after. 

"What did Dumbledore want?" Jenny asked.

"He was just telling us what we needed to do." Lily said.

"Oh, yeah, who's the head boy?" Jenny asked.

"Potter" Lily said with disgust. April looked at Lily slightly stunned.

"How did he get head boy? He wasn't even a prefect."

"I know." Lily said. "And he's always getting into trouble."

"Wow," Jenny said. Lily knew that Jenny had a slight crush on James but was currently dating a boy from Hufflepuff.

"Yeah, well, there's also going to be a dance because Dumbledore had a whim over the summer" Lily said slightly amused. April started laughing slightly at the stupidity of it. But their head master was very weird but oh so cool.

*    *    *    *

"Timetables." April said handing the timetables to Lily and Jenny as they joined her at the table in the great hall for breakfast the next day.

"But it's a Saturday." Jenny said slightly annoyed.

"I know, it's great isn't it? The first few days of school are a weekend." April said. She was looking up and down the table, no doubt looking to see if there were any decent boys. Just down the table, James and Sirius were surrounded by girls, Peter was sitting opposite them on his own and Remus was at the teacher's table talking to one of the teachers.

"So what do you want to do today?" Lily asked the girls.

"Well, I wanted to just sit by the lake today. It's so beautiful." Jenny said. She looked at the enchanted ceiling. "And it's a clear day." April nodded.

"Great, it'll give me a chance to work on my tan." Apirl said.

"You've been working on your tan all summer." Lily said slightly amused.

"Winter is coming up soon Lily, and if you haven't forgotten, there is no sun in winter." April said. Lily smiled and shook her head.

"You are unbelievable." She said.

"Thank you." April grinned. Just as April had said that there was a bang at one end of the Hall. The three girls turned quickly to see that half the Slytherins had turned into chickens.

"What the-" Jenny started to say but she was speechless. Everyone was laughing except Lily. She looked down the table to see James and Sirius in fits of laughter.

*     *    *    *

"That was brilliant Padfoot." James said as they walked out over the grounds of the castle.

"It was only to show what the Slytherins really are." Sirius said happily. Remus clapped Sirius on his back and they all started laughing again, with the exception of Peter. Peter was frowning slightly but the others didn't take any notice. The marauders went over to a large old oak tree that stood by the lake. The day was too hot to do anything and James wanted to relax for a while and bask in the sun.

"I swear the Marauders get better every year" came a girl's voice, James and Sirius looked at each other and looked down the shore of the lake to see Lily and her friends sitting at the edge of the lake. They weren't in their usual school robes but in their own clothes. April was lying on the grass with her shirt hitched up slightly to reveal her tanned stomach. Jenny was lying on the grass next to her and Lily had taken her shoes and socks off and had her feet in the lake.

"How can you think they're great. They're just stupid gits who don't have anything better to do." Lily said. James looked at Sirius, who pretended to look hurt. "Well, except maybe Remus, at least he tried to work." Remus beamed at this and James gave him a cold look. How dare Lily be praising someone other then himself. Most people always found it an honour if any of Lily's group or the Marauders praised them.

"Well, it seems you're no where nearer winning her heart." Sirius said. James looked at him and Sirius held up his fists ready to fight.

"Can't be bothered." James said. He put a hand in his robes and pulled out a tiny gold snitch.

"I can't believe your parents got that for you." Sirius said slightly amazed. James smiled.

"Well we are rich." James said. He let it go but didn't let it go any further then a foot or so away before catching it again.

_Oh my god look at him showing off again_, Lily thought as she noticed James playing with his snitch a little way off.

"So, Lily what do you want to do after Hogwarts?" Jenny asked. Lily picked up a stone and threw it into the water.

"I don't know. Probably work for the ministry." Lily said. 

"Really, I thought you wanted to be an Auror?" April said.

"No that's you." Lily said looking at her friend. April thought for a minute and smiled.

"Oh yeah. I don't know what I'd do without two smart ass friends like you two." She said.

"Well, I nearly wasn't your friend. I could have been in Ravenclaw." Jenny told them.

"Same." Lily said. April looked at the two of them.

"What?!" She said. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Didn't need to say it before." Lily said shrugging. April thought this over and nodded.

"True." April said. Lily smiled and pulled her feet out of the water and went up the bank to join her friends but she didn't lie down. She thought about the outside world for a few moments. It was getting increasingly darker. Last year at least twenty pupils in Hogwarts had lost a member of their family to the new rising power of Lord Voldemort. Lily knew that his influence had reached overseas and half of Europe was being forced to follow Voldemort. Lily frowned as she thought of Voldemort's main objective. To erase muggle born and half muggle witches and Wizards. Lily's friends were safe from this but Lily's parents were both Muggles and were delighted that Lily was a witch. Unlike her annoying older sister.

"What's up?" Jenny asked, her eyes were squinted slightly to block out the sun that was shining in her eyes.

"I'm just thinking." Lily said. She noticed a shadow approach from behind.

"A penny for your thoughts?" said a boy coming from behind them. Lily turned to see James standing over her.

"Hi James, Sirius." April said sweetly. Sirius gave her a grin and sat down next to her.

"Nice body." Sirius said. April got up and pulled her shirt down properly.

"What do you want Potter?" Lily said slightly annoyed.

"I want to know what you're thinking about. Moony has gone to see the head master and Peter has wandered off somewhere." James said.

"We got bored" Sirius said.

"So you decided to come and annoy us with you presence?" Lily asked.

"That pretty much sums it up." Sirius said. "And James wants to ask you out again." James hit Sirius a bit too hard. Sirius lost his balance slightly and bumped into April.

"Sorry April." He said sincerely.

"So what were you thinking about?" James asked.

"If you must know, I'm worried for my family." Lily said matter-of-factly.

"Why?" Sirius asked.

"Her family are muggles, remember?" April said.

"Oh yeah." Sirius said. He turned to Lily; "I've been meaning to ask, what was that thing that played music from those strange plastic disks?" 

"It's called a CD player, you would know if you took Muggle Studies." Lily said. Her tone was less harsh towards Sirius then to James. Something James hated about Sirius but he could never truly hate Sirius. They were like brothers, nothing could tear them apart.

"You worried about Voldemort hurting your family?" James asked.

"Yes, he's been a bit more active recently." Lily said.

"I can get my Parents to check on your family occasionally if you want." James offered. James' parents were both Aurors and they were quite famous aurors. Lily felt slightly touched that James was offering to get his parents to protect her family. _No,_ Lily thought, _he's just trying to impress you again._

"No it's fine." Lily said. "But thanks for offering." Lily sighed and endured the rest of the day listening to James boasting.

"Kill me" she mouthed to April and Jenny, who both giggled.


	3. A warning to never kiss me

A few weeks passed and the girls were bogged down with work. Lily had already organised the first Hogsmeade weekend and was looking forward to it. The weather had gone from sunny and warm to windy and wet.

"I hate this weather." Jenny said slightly annoyed. "James is making us work twice as hard as our old captain" Jenny was a seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Quidditch ran in her family, her brother was a chaser for the Chinese national quidditch team and her sister was a chaser in the Ravenclaw team.

"Your fault for being so damned talented on a broom" April said smiling at her. "I don't envy you, honestly." Jenny sneered at April and was about to get back to her work when James came down from the boys Dormitories shouting at the top of his voice dressed in his Quidditch uniform.

"Ok Team, surprise Quidditch practice." He said. There was an audible moan from those who were on the team but James grinned at them all. A girl went up to James and whispered something in his ear but he dismissed her and hopped down the last few steps.

"I'm going to the Dorm room, tell him I'm ill." Jenny said. "I've got too much homework."

"Oh, Jenny, just the girl I wanted to see." James said putting an arm around Jenny as she stood up. Lily and April looked at each other and then at Jenny, who blushed slightly and put her books down.

"Really?" Jenny said. "Why?"

"Our first match is against Hufflepuff and their seeker is.well lets just say you don't need to come to this practice," James said.

"That bad?" April asked. James nodded sadly.

"I'm afraid there's no chance for them this year." James said sadly. He stood there in silence for a few minutes before letting go of Jenny and clapping his hands. "Well, better get going." He turned to Lily, "I'm expecting a nice hug and a mug of hot chocolate when I get back, honey" He said with a grin.

"In your dreams Potter." Lily snapped at him.

"Deffinately." He said with a smirk and he left the girls and headed out of the portrait happily. Jenny was looking slightly surprised but grateful at the same time.

"Stupid, big headed, worthless-" Lily muttered.

"Whoa, stop." April said. "Homework, five feet of Potions." She said to distract Lily's attention. It did the trick as Lily suddenly frowned and went straight to her work.

"Did James just say I could miss practice?" Jenny asked sitting down slowly.

"Yep." April said. "You got Lucky sista" April said putting on an American accent.

"O god that holiday to America really affected you didn't it?" Jenny said looking at April sympathetically.

"Imagine what it was like when she just got back from that country." Lily said not taking her eyes off her homework. "She stayed at mine for a week and it was non-stop American." Jenny smirked and April grinned.

"Well, Y'all know I just love that country" April said in the American accent.

"I think I preferred it when she came back from Italy" Jenny said smiling. Jenny and Lily started laughing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" April said slightly annoyed.

*    *     *    *

The Gryffindor Quidditch team didn't come back until well past nine. They trudged in muddy and wet. Lily was sitting on the Sofa reading while April and Jenny played Wizard's chess.

"Never do that again." Sirius snarled at James. Sirius was smiling and James grinned.

"I thought it went really well." James said. The rest of the team muttered their protests and went to their dorms.

"Have a good practice?" April said laughing at the state of the team. Sirius glared at April for a few seconds then turned his gaze to Jenny.

"You are so lucky." He said pointing at her. He walked pasted a mirror and took a step back to find his hair was stuck to his forehead and there was mud all over his face. "Oh no." He said trying to wipe the mud off.

"You are so vain." April said.

"I have to keep my looks in top order if I'm ever going to be able to get you in bed one day" Sirius joked.

"That may come sooner then you think." Lily muttered to herself. She had noticed that April and Sirius had a tendency of flirting outrageously recently. April denied that she liked Sirius but Jenny and Lily knew better.

"So, Evans, where's my hot Chocolate?" James asked sitting next to Lily on the Sofa. Lily moved away from the soaking James.

"In the kitchens" Lily said slightly annoyed.

"I can't be bothered to go all the way to the kitchens, how about that kiss?" He said. Lily gave him a look saying there was no chance. James ignored the look and leant in to kiss her anyway. Lily took out her wand.

"Stupify" she said. James froze where he was and Lily got up. April and Sirius started laughing. James was stuck in a very embarrassing pose on the sofa.

"Good one" Sirius laughed, He was holding onto April for support. Jenny waved her wand and the Chess set disappeared. She got up and linked arms with Lily.

"Nice statue." Jenny said, she sounded like she was trying not to laugh.

"There's just a few more things and then he'll be perfect." Lily said. She waved her wand and the Quidditch uniform disappeared and was replaced with some very embarrassing muggle clothes. She flicked her wand one last time and James' hair went pink. Sirius was on the floor laughing now.

"Good night." Lily said to the other three and went to her dorm room to sleep

*    *    *    *

The next morning Lily was sitting at the great hall with Jenny and April. They were discussing their Charms homework when-

"EVANS!" James shouted entering the great hall. Lily turned to see James marching towards him angrily. He had changed and he looked like he usually did but his hair was still pink. Everyone was whispering and laughing as James marched to Lily.

"Good morning to you to Potter." Lily said smiling pleasantly. April and Jenny started giggling again and Lily was on the verge of laughing herself.

"What's this?" He ordered pointing at his hair.

"A warning to never try and kiss me again." Lily said. Sirius and Remus ran in after James and Sirius put a hand on James' arm.

"Oi Potter, nice hair!" shouted a boy from Slytherin. James turned and glared at the boy.

"I can change it back if you want but I think you look so much better with pink hair." Lily said. "Or maybe you'd like bright green?" Lily asked taking her wand out. Jenny and April were both laughing properly now and a few of the other Gryffindors were laughing. A few of the teachers that were in the hall looked amused at what was going on but they knew it was harmless fun so they didn't bother trying to stop it.

"Turn it back" James ordered. Lily sighed and waved her wand. James' hair did turn back to black but it had pink polka dots in it. James looked up and saw a few black strands of hair and felt relieved but Sirius had burst out laughing and was leaning on Remus. Remus was trying to stop laughing and tapped James' shoulder.

"You might want to go and visit one of the teachers." Remus said. James frowned and picked up a goblet to look at his reflection.

"Evans!" James exclaimed. Lily, Jenny and April got up.

"See you later James." She said happily, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. The girls left the great hall laughing but James was frozen to the spot. Did Lily just kiss him willingly? Even if it was just a kiss on the cheek it was progress.

"Prongs, mate." Sirius said between breaths for air. "I think you need a hair cut" James looked at Sirius confused. He put his hand to his hair to find that it wasn't short anymore but it seemed to be growing.

"EVANS!" James shouted.

The girls were on the main stairs when they heard James shout.

"What did you do to him?" Jenny asked Laughing.

"I put a little spell on him." Lily said. They reached the top of the main stairs when James came skidding out of the great hall.

"Run!" April shouted at the other two as she spotted James running after them. Lily and Jenny glanced behind before setting off for the common room at a run and laughing at the same time.


	4. I'm trying to be a better Man

"Nice Hair Potter." Snarled the Defence against the Dark arts teacher, Professor Grout. Professor Grout was the incarnation of Evil at Hogwarts. He was the head of Slytherin and it was obvious he favoured his own house above the others. He was particularly harsh on the Marauders. James sat in the lesson with his now long hair tied back with a hair band he had borrowed off April. The Slytherins in the class were snickering and the marauders couldn't help laughing. Lily, April and Jenny were sitting in the front of the class, away from James and his friends.

"Thank you sir" James said through gritted teeth. He swore he'd get revenge on Lily and that he was going to the hospital wing as soon as Defence against the dark arts was finished. Professor Binns, the history of Magic teacher, wouldn't notice if he was late.

"Nice to see Miss. Evans has taught you manners, even if she isn't pure blood." Grout said with a smirk. Lily's smile disappeared as Grout said this and she looked at her notes that she had made on Werewolves. When Grout went on to help a Hufflepuff that had spilt his ink over the surface of a desk Lily felt a hand on her waist.

"I will get you back Evans." James muttered in her ear from behind. Lily tensed and looked at him. He gave her a dangerous look and went back to where he had been sitting with the marauders. Lily didn't like his tone of voice and glanced at her friends uncertainly.

"Was that a threat or just him coming on to me?" Lily asked her friends uncertainly. They shrugged looking slightly confused.

"It's really hard to tell with Potter." Jenny said. 

*    *    *    *

"Miss. Evans, Mr. Potter I would like to inform you of extra security measures that we are going to induce on the Hogsmeade trips this year." Professor McGonagall said. James and Lily sat in the Prefect's common room looking at her slightly confused. MeGonagall was the deputy head and helped James and Lily organise the school events. Her hair was tied back in a tight bun and a large witches hat was perched on her head.

"What security measures?" James asked. The witch looked at the two and took her pointed hat off.

"As you have probably heard, the Dark Lord has been attacking Muggle families. I'm afraid that we must take extra precautions and ask the Prefects and you two to organise the houses into groups. They will have set times to go into Hogsmeade and they will be accompanied by one of the prefects." McGonagall said.

"But What if the dark Lord or a death eater shows up?" Lily asked worriedly.

"That's why you will only have small groups. The ministry has given us permission to let you create Portkeys if necessary. You will make a portkey and transport the students back to the castle." 

"What about us?" Lily asked.

"You will let out some red sparks and travel by Portkey as well." McGonagall said. Lily nodded. She looked at James, who was looking quite serious. His hair was back to normal now and he ran his hand through it more then he usually did. He still hadn't gotten Lily back after a month and a half and Lily was starting to wonder if he was actually going to make good on his threat.

"Am I understood?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes Professor." Lily said 

"Yes sir," James said without thinking. McGonagall gave him a harsh look.

"You may go." She said. Lily and James left the prefect common room and headed towards the great hall where everyone was eating. James was unusually silent, like he was planning something, or thinking about something. Lily was actually getting worried at James' lack of insulting her or talking to her, even if they didn't like each other. He hadn't pulled any pranks on anyone either for a while. Lily could tell it was really starting to annoy Sirius, because he was a bit more anxious nowadays.

"Are you ok?" Lily asked.

"I'm thinking." James said.

"Oh god help us all. The almighty James Potter is thinking" Lily said sarcastically. James stopped and gave her a harsh look.

"Why do you act like that?" He asked Lily as she stopped as well.

"Act like what?" Lily asked him slightly offended. She crossed her arms.

"I'm trying to grow up and be a better man just for you and all you do is throw it right back at me." James said angrily.

"I haven't noticed any change" Lily said coldly.

"Well if you would have gotten your head out of your arse you'd notice that I'm trying." James said. Lily's mouth opened in anger and shock.

"My head is not up my arse." She said.

"Yes it is. You're too proud to notice anything outside you and your little group of friends." James said.

"Fine, I'll open my mind more but I really don't see how that's going to help" Lily said. "How are you going to prove yourself? You're too obsessed with yourself to think about others."

"You'll just have to figure that out for yourself." James said marching down the stairs. Lily stayed where she was. Too shocked to move._ My head is not up my arse_ Lily thought. She soon followed James to the great hall and joined April and Jenny. _How dare he accuse me of being proud. He obviously hasn't looked at himself recently_ Lily thought. She jabbed at the food a bit too hard that the plate cracked and the food went everywhere. Jenny let out a scream of surprise.

"Sorry." Lily muttered. Jenny and April both looked at Lily.

"Are you ok?" April asked concerned, noticing the frown lines on Lily's forehead.

"Yeah I'm fine." Lily said getting up and leaving the hall.

*    *    *    *

"Stupid Bitch." James muttered as he, Sirius, Peter and Remus walked down a secret passage coming back from Hogsmeade. "Thinks she's better then me but she's not." Sirius rolled his eyes and pushed James over.

"Shut up" Sirius said.

"Hey!" James said getting up and dusting the dirt away.

"Prongs, please just be quite for a little while, you've been talking about Evans all the time we were in Hogsmeade, talk about something different." Remus said.

"I can't, she's just so-" James punched the wall of the tunnel in anger.

"Whoa." Sirius said slightly surprised. "She can really get to you can't she?" James looked at Sirius before carrying on down the passage.

"Is he alright?" Peter asked worriedly.

"He will be, we'll just have to give him some time to cool off" Remus said. Last time he had seen James like this, cursing someone non-stop and punching inanimate objects like walls was when his grandparents had been killed by Voldemort just after the OWLs. 

James hurried down the hall, leaving the rest of the Marauders. He climbed out of the passage and started down the hall to the room of Requirement. A room he had discovered a few years ago and he often went there to think or calm down. How could Lily make him so angry, he was the one who had insulted her the most, she had barely said anything different to what she normally said but how could she get him so angry? James went into the room of requirement and looked at the sofa in the middle of the room. The room was filled with things that would normally make him feel happier but for some reason it didn't work this time. All James could think about was Lily.

*    *    *    *

It was nearly midnight and Lily patrolled the Corridors like she was supposed to. It was often very boring so she normally just did a round on each floor before heading back to the common room to get some sleep. Tonight however she wasn't really paying attention to where she was going.

"Stupid Potter, he hasn't got a clue about anything" Lily muttered to herself as she patrolled the seventh floor. She was just walking down a corridor, past the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy when she heard footsteps. She turned to see a Slytherin called Cole Kilroy following her. Cole Kilroy was in the Seventh year and he had jet black hair and very dark eyes. They looked black if you weren't looking closely. His skin was pale and he looked like he hadn't been in the sun all his life. She frowned, he wasn't a prefect so he shouldn't be out of his common room. 

"What are you doing out of your common room?" Lily asked him.

"I'm looking for you." He snarled. Lily looked at him surprised.

"Why?" Lily asked him worriedly. He smirked and stopped when he was only a foot away from her. Lily looked at him. He was a lot taller then she was.

"I needed to talk to you." He said. Lily took a step back, feeling uncomfortable. It was unheard of for a Slytherin to search for a Gryffindor just to talk.

"What do you want?" Lily asked. Cole moved around so Lily was between him and the wall.

"You do know you are a beautiful woman." Cole said. "And I was wondering whether you would, I don't know.let me kiss you or more." Cole's eyes flashed dangerously and Lily looked at him alarmed. She took a step back again just to find that she was against the wall. Cole's smirk grew wider as Lily realised there was nowhere to go.

"I, I'll get back to you on that" Lily stammered. She got her wand out but Cole grabbed her wrists with his hands and tightened his grip on her wand hand. Lily didn't say anything but she bit her lip as his grip increased. His grip was like a vice and eventually Lily dropped her wand because of the pain.

"That's better" Cole said. He pressed Lily up against the wall and forced a kiss on her. Lily didn't respond, she tried to get him off her but he was too strong. She felt him let go of one of her hands. She hit him but it didn't seem to help at all. She felt his hand on her robes, trying to find the fastenings. He pulled away from the kiss and grinned at her.

"Get off me!" she screamed.

"No," He said. "You've annoyed me enough, and it'll be a way of getting back at Potter." 

"Let go!" Lily shouted again as she tried to push him away. He didn't let go and managed to get her robe fastening. Fortunately Lily was wearing some jeans and a t-shirt under the robes because she had been feeling rather cold recently. Cole pressed her against the wall even harder and kissed her again. Lily tried to scream but the kiss muffled it.


	5. What did you do?

James was staring at the ceiling of the room of requirement when he heard the first scream. He wasn't sure if he was hearing things or if someone had actually screamed. He got up slowly. It must be nearly midnight, he had lost track of how long he had been sulking in the room. Just as James thought he was hearing things another scream pierced the room. James quickly picked up his wand, which he had put on a table, and pulled his cloak on. There were a few more screams and James opened the door. He stood out in the hall and looked down to the left. Nothing there. He looked to the right and saw two figured struggling. One of them was a boy with black hair, the other a girl with dark red hair. James ran down the corridor. 

Cole Kilroy was holding Lily against the wall. Lily was trying to fight back against him without half her clothes but it wasn't working and she was crying slightly. James noticed that one of Cole's hands was at Lily's trousers.

"Get off her." James said withdrawing his wand. Cole stopped and looked at James and smirked. Lily looked as well, her face was stained with tears.

"James." She said.

"Get lost Potter." Cole said.

"Petrificus totalus" James shouted. Cole dropped to the floor completely still and as rigid as a board. Lily collapsed to the floor and quickly picked up her shirt, which had been thrown on the floor. She was sobbing hysterically and she quickly tried to pull her shirt on frustrated but it tore as she tried to put it on.

"Lily." James said urgently. He dropped to the floor and held Lily still for a moment.

"Let go." She screamed at him.

"Lily it's me." James said. Lily stared at him for a moment and she started crying again and put her head on his shoulder. Footsteps came from both ends of the corridor and Professor McGonagall came running from one side while Professor Grout came from the other direction.

"What is that racket?" She asked annoyed. She looked at Cole, rigid as a board on the floor and Lily crying in James' arms. Professor Grout said the counter spell to the one James had put on Cole.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor for hexing a student." He said. McGonagall approached James and Lily.

"Gerrad, I wouldn't take points so quickly." She said holding her hand up. "Miss. Evans. Are you ok?" Lily didn't respond but Lily pulled her to her feet and put his cloak around her to save her anymore embarrassment of the teachers seeing her in her trousers and underwear.

"She's ok now Professor" James said looking at McGongall seriously.

"What happened here?" McGonagall ordered.

"Potter attacked me" Cole said pointing at James. James rounded on him.

"Only because you were trying to rape Lily." He said.

"I was not trying to do that." Cole said. "We were talking." Lily crouched to the floor and picked her wand up and pointed it at Cole.

"You bastard" She managed to say. Her hand was shaking as she pointed the wand at Cole. "Tell the truth or I'll curse you worse the Potter ever could." She screamed at him.

"Lily." McGonagall said trying to get to the head girl's senses. "What happened?"

"He tried to-" Lily couldn't finished her sentence. "What Potter said." She said eventually. James put a hand on Lily's arm and lowered her arm so her wand was pointing at the floor. McGonagall looked at the three of them shocked.

"Well, I would say fifty points back to Gryffindor and another fifty for James" she said. She turned to Cole. "A hundred from Slytherin."

"Now, Minerva, he was just trying to talk to the girl" Grout said, trying to protect Cole.

"The evidence is clear Gerrad. Miss. Evans, stripped of most of her clothes and it's two against one. I'm sure we can get some Vieraserum from Louise, the potions master." McGonagall said. Grout turned red and then turned to Cole.

"You idiot, why did you do that. You are going straight to the headmaster. Now!" Grout said. Cole looked at Grout surprised. He turned to go but threw a dirty look at James and Lily before going. Grout followed him and left McGonagall with Lily and James. Lily suddenly felt angry and upset at the same time.

"Lily, are you sure you're ok?" McGonagall asked concerned. Lily picked up her robes angrily.

"Yes." She said annoyed. 

"Mr. Potter, please can you take her back to the Hospital wing" McGonagall said.

"I don't need to go there. I'm fine" Lily snapped. I just want to sleep.

"Fine, you will be excused from lessons tomorrow" McGonagall said to Lily gently. Lily started down the hall towards the Gryffindor common room. James ran after her and put an arm around her.

"Let me take those." He said indicating to the robes Lily was holding.

"I think you've done enough Potter" Lily said in a gentler tone then she had used with McGonagall. James pulled her closer to him but she shrugged him away and decided to walk a little way away from James. She suddenly felt more then uncomfortable in front of James. When they were in the common room Lily went straight to her dorm room without giving James his cloak back. James didn't care as long as she was safe.

*    *    *    *

"Lily, classes" Jenny said shaking Lily slightly. Lily waved an arm and told her to get lost. Jenny stood up straight and looked at April. Both of them were already dressed, ready for their transfiguration class

"What's wrong with her?" April asked nervously. 

"She came back quite late last night. I was only half awake when she walked in." Jenny whispered. Just then Lily let out a sob and pulled the duvet over her. Jenny and April both sat on either side of her bed immediately and tried to coax her to talk to them.

"What happened?" April asked gently. Their other room mates had already gone to breakfast and were in the Common room. Lily didn't answer and just hugged her pillow.

"Lily, you can tell us whatever it is." Jenny said.

"I don't want to talk about it?" Lily muttered into her pillow. Jenny frowned and looked at April for help but April didn't know what to do. Lily had never really broken down like this. What did Lily do whenever April broke up with her boyfriends? April racked her mind.

"McGonagall said I can miss lessons." Lily said after a while. "I'm not going to classes." April looked at Jenny shocked.

"But you have to. We're taking NEWTs this year." Jenny said.

"I don't care." Lily said. "Leave me alone." Jenny and April gave up and left the dorm room worriedly.

"There's something not right with her." Jenny said.

"State the obvious." April said. "What do you think happened? She's been acting weirdly since Dinner yesterday."

"Do you think its James?" Jenny asked.

"Nah, he can annoy her but he can't make her cry." April said. When they got to the bottom of the stairs from their dorm James came running up to them.

"Is Lily ok? Is she still crying?" He asked urgently. April and Jenny both looked at each other and thought the same thing. They knocked James over and pinned him to the floor.

"What did you do to her?" April asked pointing her wand at him.

"I didn't do anything, ask Lily." James said slightly surprised.

"She won't talk. What did you do?" Jenny ordered.

"I didn't do anything." James said.

"Girls what is happening?" Sirius asked walking over.

"Getting answers out of your friend here." April said dangerously. "What did you do to Lily?" James stared at them and Sirius looked at them surprised. Everyone in the Common room was staring.

"I didn't do anything, I just want to know if she's ok. She was crying last night when she came back and I wanted to know if she was alright." James said. April and Jenny looked at him sceptically and got off him. James got to his feet and stared at them.

"She really won't talk?" He asked worriedly.

"No, but whatever you did to her she's just started crying. Stay away from her potter or we will be forced to hurt you" April said. April and Jenny cared for Lily more then anything. They cared for each other and looked out for each other. If one was upset the others would get revenge. James nodded and Sirius dragged him away from the girls.

"What was that about?" Sirius asked. James just stayed quiet. April and Jenny went back to the dorm room trying to get Lily to talk more.


	6. I just want to say thanks

Lily sat in her bed hugging her legs. She had finally stopped crying but she still felt awful. She didn't know why she had cried so much but it had just come out and hadn't stopped until after lunch. The events of the previous night were still slightly fuzzy but she remembered James coming to her aid. Maybe me was changing like he said he was. Lily went to April's bed and picked up April's large teddy bear that she had gotten from Lily for her birthday last year. Lily went back to her bed with it and hugged it tightly. She was thinking about James when there was a tapping at the window. Lily looked up to see an Owl tapping on the window in a light rain. She got up again and let the owl in. It was carrying a long rectangular box with a card attached to it. Lily took it from the owl and it flew out of the window. She went back to her bed and tucked her legs under her body as she opened the box. Inside was a single pink rose. Lily picked it up and smelt it before putting it down and picking up the card. 

**Forever yours, James.** It said. Lily smiled and picked the rose up again. Pink, for friendship. He wanted to be friends. That was possible, Lily thought, he deserved that much. She got up and headed for the shower. Despite her dreary start of the day the rose had an uplifting effect on her. If she hurried she might just be able to go to her last lesson of the day.

*    *    *    *

"Today, you will be learning how to brew a Draught of Camouflage" Professor Hamish told the class. Professor Hamish had thin blond hair that was tied up in a ponytail. She was fairly thin and was usually very nice to everyone. The door opened and Lily walked in.

"Sorry I'm late Professor." Lily said quietly.

"Quite alright Lily, Professor McGonagall explained everything to me this morning." Professor Hamish said. Lily frowned.

"She did?" Lily asked worriedly. 

"Don't worry, please, take you place with Aril and Jenny." Lily nodded and quickly went to where she usually sat with her friends. Everyone was whispering and looking at Lily. She never missed a lesson and she was never late.

"Are you feeling ok?" April asked concerned. Lily gave her a smile.

"Yeah, I got a.present from someone." Lily said. She glanced behind her to where James sat with Sirius and Remus. Peter would have been in Potions, if he had gotten an E in his OWLs but he didn't so it was just three of the Marauders. Lily gave James a quick smile before turning back to the front.

James had to blink a few times to believe what he saw. Did Lily just smile at him?

"Looks like she's ok." Sirius said "Sounds like she's ok. What the hell was wrong with her?" Sirius hated Lily not being in their lessons because all day all the slightly less intelligent pupils had been forced to answer questions that Lily normally answered.

"I'm sure she'll tell you when she's ready" James said to Sirius. Remus and Sirius both looked at him.

"Do you know something we don't?" Remus asked James.

"Well, yeah I do but I can't tell you unless Lily wants me to." James told them.

"Unless Lily. When did you start caring more about a girl then us?" Sirius asked.

"Boys, will you please be quiet and listen to what I'm saying." Professor Hamish said.

"Sorry Professor" Remus said.

"What happened to her? I want to know." Sirius whispered.

"I can't tell you." James said looking at him. Sirius shrugged and leant over to get something from his bag. James noticed it was a small Vial of confusing concoction. 

"Amanda Freeland brewed some in Potions the other day. She gave me four vials for three sickles." Sirius said.

"I could have gotten it for free." James said.

"Yeah but you were sulking over Evans so I went and got some myself. I was thinking Halloween feast" Sirius said. James grinned.

"I'll talk to the house elves then" Remus said as he started to unpack some ingredients.

*    *    *    *

"Lily you coming?" April asked after Potions. Lily hung back a little.

"Um, I'll meet you in the hall in a few minutes" Lily said. April shrugged and grabbed Jenny and went to the great hall for dinner. Lily put her last book into her bag when the Marauders walked past. She quickly swung her bag onto her shoulder and followed them.

"Um, Potter, can I talk to you for a minute" Lily said, trying to sound like she usually did and failing. Remus, Sirius and James stopped. James looked at Lily and nodded.

"Sure." He said. He turned to the other two. "I'll meet you guys in the Hall." Remus nodded and turned to go. Sirius looked at James then to Lily and back to James again and gave James a wink. James went very slightly red and Sirius ran after Remus.

"Can we go for a walk or go somewhere a bit more private." Lily said, she could feel her face going red. She didn't really want to talk to James but she knew she had to.

"Yeah, we could go out on the grounds."

"It's raining." Lily told him. James looked into the classroom and out of a window.

"Oh yeah." He said. "Well, lets just go for a walk around the castle." James suggested. Lily smiled and they started towards the main staircase.

"I just wanted to say thank you." Lily said after a few moments in silence. James looked at Lily, "And that you were right yesterday. I do have my head up my arse, you have changed and I was a bit blind. I guess the past is kinda making me see what I want to see." James smiled at Lily as she tried to get this out. "And I want to tell you that I wouldn't mind being friends with you. After all you did save me from Cole and I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone." They had both stopped at the top of the stairs to the entrance hall.

"That's fine, I haven't told anyone." James told her. "Sorry I was a bit harsh yesterday, after the meeting. I've just been trying so hard the past few years. Are you ok now?" He asked worriedly. 

"I'm fine." Lily said, "I'll need some time though, you know, to get over it." James nodded

"Understandable."

"Hi James" said a brown haired girl in the year below as she passed Lily and James. James ignored her but Lily found it slightly more difficult to ignore her. Lily watched her go down the stairs. A few girls were giggling at the bottom of the stairs and kept looking up at James.

"Ignore them, they're always trying to get either Sirius, Remus or me into bed." James said. 

"Does it work?" Lily asked. James thought for a while.

"It used to on me but not on Remus." James and Lily started walking towards the Great Hall.

"What about Sirius?" Lily asked.

"He's still a bit of a player." James told Lily. "But I think he's got a thing for April."

"Who wouldn't, she's a great girl." Lily said. James laughed slightly

"Did you know this morning when I asked how you were April and Jenny pounced on me and tried to hex me?" James said. Lily looked at him worriedly.

"My god, why?" She asked.

"Something about them thinking I upset you." James said. They entered the Great hall. Lily saw her friends sitting about half way down the table. They headed for them when James saw the Marauders sitting closer to them.

"Do you want to sit with us for dinner?" James asked as they came to the Marauders. Lily looked at James slightly torn. She looked down at where her friends were sitting. April gave her a wave to show that they'd seen her.

"No, it's ok. I'll go and sit with April and Jenny." Lily said. James looked slightly dejected at this and nodded.

"Ok, well we've got a Prefects meeting at eight, I took the liberty of organising it." James said. Lily smiled and headed towards Jenny and April. When she sat down April started looking at her strangely. It was very off putting.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Where you just conversing with James Potter?" April asked. Lily went slightly red.

"Yeah, why?" Lily asked.

"Why?" April asked curiously.

"He just knows something that I'd rather he didn't spread so I was just warning him what would happen if he told anyone." Lily said. April nodded but both of Lily's friends looked like they didn't believe her.

"You seemed awfully friendly." Jenny said. "What did he ask you that made hesitate?" Lily went slightly redder then she had been.

"He asked me to sit with him for dinner" Lily said.

"And you didn't curse him or hex him or slap him?" April asked. Lily shook her head. April looked at Jenny stunned. "Oh my god, he's put a curse on her." Lily smiled and hit April gently.

"No he hasn't." Lily said.

"So what does James know?" Jenny asked.

"Nothing." Lily said quickly.

"Yeah right, do we know what it is?" April asked.

"Um.No, not really." Lily said. "It was about this morning or last night, both actually." April looked at Lily curiously. "I'll tell you later." Lily looked down the table to where James was sitting. His head was bowed towards Sirius and Remus. He wasn't that bad and he was quite attractive. Lily could see what most girls saw in him but she also saw something else that she didn't think anyone else saw. A young man waiting to get out.

"Yo! Lily!" April said snapping her fingers. Lily looked at April and looked at her confused.

"Yeah."

"When is this ball that you said Dumbeldore mentioned at the beginning of the year?" Jenny asked.

"Oh, um.Ask James, he's organising it." Lily said. April looked at her suspiciously.

"Who were you staring at?" she asked.

"No one." Lily said as she started eating.


	7. Hogsmeade weekend

Lily stood in the entrance hall holding a parchment with a list of students that she had to take into Hogsmeade. Every one of the prefects had a list and they were all complaining about the new measures that they had to carry out.

"This is stupid. I was supposed to spend the day with Georgina." Complained a Hufflepuff Prefect to a Ravenclaw girl. The girl patted his back and turned to Lily.

"Do we have to do this?" She asked.

"I'm afraid we do. Dumbledore's orders." Lily said. "I don't want to do this, I'd much rather go to Hogsmeade with April and Jenny."

"Oh, April is going to Hogsmeade with Sirius." James said joining the Prefects in the entrance hall. "How are you doing?" He asked Lily. He put a hand on her back and gave her a smile.

"I'm doing fine, thank you." Lily said politely. She moved away, feeling slightly uncomfortable with James touching her. A few girls eyed her suspiciously and a few guys gave James an awed look.

"Good." James said smiling. "Oh look the first batch of cattle" He said turning to where groups of students were coming from their dorms. Lily and James had decided that to avoid conflicts Prefects would go with students from their own houses. A few third and fourth year Gyrffindors came down from the dorm and found Lily with the other Gryffindor Prefects. Everyone knew their orders and the pupils knew which prefect they had to be with.

"Ok, is everyone here?" Lily asked her group

"Joni Simmons isn't coming because she's ill" said a brown haired fourth year.

"Ok, but other then her is everyone here?" Lily asked. Everyone nodded.

"Can we go with James Potter's group?" asked a girl. Lily shifted uncomfortably. 

"We'll meet up with them at the Three Broomsticks." Lily said. "Come on then." Lily's group followed her chatting noisily. They all seemed excited that they were in Lily's group and the fact they had to go into Hogsmeade with a prefect added an extra sense of excitement. They went to all the various shops and ended up in the Three Broomsticks at the end of their two hours in Hogsmeade. 

After her current group Lily went back to the castle to see the next group waiting for her and again she went around the same shops again. Lily did the round three times before she found James and Remus sitting in the Three Broomsticks having a few mugs of Butterbeer.

"My Lily flower." James said dramatically and holding his arms out. Lily gave him an annoyed look and took the seat next to Remus just to annoy James. She was all too aware of James' feelings for her.

"Lily!" Lily said. Remus laughed slightly and turned to Lily

"How you coping?" He asked.

"If I go into Zonkos one more time I swear I'm going to scream." Lily said. Remus and James both started laughing.

"Well, this is that last group before it's just our year." James said comfortingly.

"Oh, thank god. I haven't been able to get more supplies for school, and I need to get Jenny a birthday present." Lily complained.

"We'll go and get Jenny something after this if you want." James said. "Just tell us what you want to get her."

"I couldn't do that." Lily said. "I'll just get April to distract her."

"She's going with Sirius." James reminded Lily.

"Oh, crap." Lily muttered. "So how are your groups?" 

"Oh, you know, the girls are just falling head over heels in love for me and the boys are standing there admiring me." James said pretending to be high and mighty.

"If you're not careful I might withdraw my invitation to be friends" Lily warned him. James shut up and looked at Remus.

"Well my groups haven't been that bad." He said. "I've got to go though. They want to visit Zonkos again." Remus got up and left James and Lily on their own.

"Do you think April and Sirius will make it work out?" Lily asked James.

"I don't know. Hopefully," James said like he didn't really care. "It'll be cool if it did work out. Turn Sirius into a one woman man." 

"None of you are men yet" Lily told him with a smile. James looked at her like that wasn't amusing.

"Have you told April and Jenny about that night when you know-" James didn't finished. Lily knew what he was talking about.

"Yeah, I had to. I can't keep anything from them, why?"

"They've been treating me differently." James said simply. "It was kinda weird." A silence fell over James and Lily. James couldn't take his eyes off Lily. She wasn't looking at him but out of the steamed windows. Her face was just so angelic and her eyes were so bright, fiery and intense. James watched her as Lily studied the rain falling. She looked as though she wanted to think of anyone but the person sitting in front of her.

"Lily" came the voice of a sixth year girl. Lily looked at her and looked interested.

"Yeah?" 

"Can we go now?" she asked. "We want to go to Honeydukes before we go to the castle" the girl said. 

"Ok." Lily picked up her cloak and stood up. "See ya James." She said.

"Bye." James said, he was still staring at her and it was making her feel uncomfortable. She gave him a smile and left with the sixth years. Why did she feel so awkward around him? Lily felt slightly annoyed at her self for feeling awkward and weird near James. Before they could be around each other and not feel awkward, only hatred but now it was different. He was suddenly taking on all the responsibility of head students, against Lily's protests, he didn't play any pranks on her any more and he just seemed to have grown up. She had also noticed that his boasting had seemed to had decreased.

*    *    *    *

It had started to rain when it was time for the Seventh years to wander around Hogsmeade. They had been given permission to visit unsupervised. Jenny linked arms with Lily and they huddled together as they ran to the Three Broomsticks with their purchases. Lily had bumped into James, Remus and Peter and asked them to get something for Jenny for her. They ran into the Three Broomsticks and sat down at a table near the windows.

"God, I hate rain" Jenny said.

"I know." Lily said. Jenny looked at Lily and leaned on her elbows.

"So." She said. Lily looked at Jenny confused.

"So what?" Lily asked.

"You and James, what's the low down? Are you a couple or 'just friends'?" Jenny asked,

"We're just friends." Lily said. "What about you and that guy, um.what's his name?" Jenny looked at Lily slightly annoyed.

"Henry and I dumped him." Jenny said.

"What? Why?" Lily asked.

"He got a bit boring." Jenny said. Madame Rosmerta came over with their butterbeers.

"Not here with that fine Potter boy?" She asked Lily. Lily blushed.

"No." Lily said. Madame Rosmerta nodded and walked off. Lily looked at Jenny, who looked like she was going to ask something. "Remus left us here earlier. We just talked a little" Jenny nodded but she didn't believe her. Just then the doors opened and five figures walked in. James, Remus, Peter and April laughing in Sirius' arms. April spotted Jenny and Lily.

"Hey, you guys" April said loudly. The group walked over to Jenny and Lily's table. 

"Hi." Lily said.

"You guys having fun?" Jenny asked April.

"Define fun?" April said. Sirius pulled April onto him when he sat in a chair and whispered something to her that made April slap his arm. They both started laughing and then April turned to Lily.

"So, what did you do?" She asked.

"Oh, we just went around the usual shops." Lily said.

"Oh, fun" April said. She didn't sound totally interested like her mind wasn't on the conversation. Lily could guess where April's mind was though. Everyone started talking about their various purchases and what they were planning to do the next day.

"Evans, I got this for Jenny for you. I couldn't find the thing you asked for." James whispered handing Lily a small parcel. Lily took it and unwrapped it. It was a small box of essential Broom equipment.

"That's perfect." Lily said. "Thanks." Lily quickly tucked the parcel into one of her bags and leant back in her chair.

"It's a bit wet outside isn't it?" James said.

"Wow, your powers of observation gets better every year" Lily said sarcastically. James smirked and shrugged.

"I love wet weather, thinking of having a late Quidditch practice" James said. Jenny and Sirius both looked at him.

"No!" they said together. James looked at them innocently.

"It's just an idea." James said.

"If April wasn't sitting on me I'd beat the crap out of you" Sirius said. James pretended to look scared and inched towards Lily.

"Help me Lily, he's going to kill me." James said. Everyone started laughing as James tried to hide behind Lily. They joked around for a bit longer before they decided that they should head back. 

"Do you really want to walk back to the castle?" James asked.

"No not really but it's the only way back" Lily said. 

"We could make a portkey." James said.

"Prongs!" Remus warned. "You know we're not supposed to."

"Ok, fine." James said. They pulled their hoods over and stepped out into the pouring rain.

"Oh, I hate the rain." Jenny said. Lily laughed and pulled the cloak around herself and her bags. Sirius had draped his cloak around him and April and somehow they were walking and hugging at the same time.

"You fancy a lift?" James asked Lily. Lily looked at James confused.

"What?" Lily asked slightly confused. James quickly picked Lily up in his arms and carried her a little way. "Hey." Lily protested.

"Come on, just a little way." James said. 

"No." Lily tried to get out of his arms but James was stronger then she was and somehow managed to keep her in his arms.

"Come on Lily, don't be a spoilsport" April shouted over the rain.

"Yeah. Go Lily!" Sirius shouted. Lily laughed slightly and put her arm around James' neck.

"Ok, a little while." She said. Lily had to admit she liked being in James' strong arms. James on the other hand couldn't believe his luck. He was just trying to figure out how he could maybe ask Lily out again with making her angry when he tripped over something.

"Shit!" he muttered as he and Lily both fell into the mud.

"James!" Lily said slightly annoyed.

"You guys ok?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, just a bit muddy" James said. He turned to see what he had tripped over when Lily let out a scream as she saw what it was.


	8. Lee Chang

"Oh shit, oh shit" Lily said getting to her feet.

"What is it?" Jenny asked.

"It's a body." Lily said slightly paniced. James got to his feet and ran to the body. Sirius let go of April and ran to the body as well. Remus stayed behind with the girls.

"Are they alive?" Sirius asked. James turned the body over to find that the person was a girl in a Hogwarts uniform. James thought she looked somewhat familiar.

"I have no idea." James said. He felt her neck and tried to find a pulse but couldn't find one.

"Who is it?" Jenny called.

"I don't know. She's in Ravenclaw" Sirius answered. Jenny came forwards and joined the boys.

"Oh god. Lee!" Jenny said. She moved the girl's hair away to reveal her younger sister. Her skin was cold and she was completely wet.

"What?" Lily and April said at the same time.

"James is there a pulse?" Lily asked as she crouched by Jenny. James frowned. He couldn't feel a pulse at all. That could have been his lack of first aid skills though. He looked at her chest. It was rising very slowly.

"She's alive." James said.

"She is?" April asked. April was holding Jenny, who looked like she was going to cry.

"Just about." James gave his things to Sirius and picked Lee up. "I'll meet you guys in the castle" He said as he was about to run off.

"No James." Lily said calling him back. She got out her watch and turned it into a portkey. "Everyone touch this." She said. When everyone was touching the watch they felt a tug at their navel and Hogsmeade suddenly disappeared. They landed in the hospital wing, Jenny and April fell over with the shock of landing but James was already at a bed.

"Someone get Madame Pomfrey" he said. Remus disappeared for a few moments. Sirius was helping Jenny and April to their feet when Lily noticed something.

"Guys, where's Peter?" She asked.

*    *     *     *

"Well done Peter. You didn't kill her but then, your orders were to hurt her." Said Cole Kilroy. He was with Peter in a small gap between buildings in Hogsmeade.

"Is the dark lord pleased?" Peter asked.

"Yes he is. He has a new order though. He wants you to keep an eye on that Mudblood. Evans." Cole said.

"Did you succeed the other night?" Peter asked him.

"Unfortunately Potter got in the way but the next attack on her will succeed." Cole said.

"Can I suggest you don't go for her directly but for someone else. Lily can protect herself and she has James waiting on her hand and foot." Peter said. Cole smirked and clapped Peter on the back

"There's hope for you yet" He said "Now get lost before we're seen together." 

*    *    *    *

Lily and April sat on the sofa in front of the fire. They were still wet but they were drying slowly. Jenny was in the hospital wing with her sister. Madame Pomfrey had told them that Lee would be ok but she needed to stay in the hospital wing for a while. Jenny insisted on staying and as she was family Madame Pomfrey couldn't refuse permission. Lily and April however were anxious as to whether Lee would be ok. When they had left the Hospital wing Jenny was crying. The Marauders had gone to look for Peter, they reckoned that Peter had forgotten to touch the portkey so now they sat talking about something.

"Do you think she'll be ok?" Lily asked April.

"She has to. She's only in the fifth year." April said. Lily put her head on April's shoulder and they stared at the fire for a while.

"You girls alright?" James asked sitting down on the sofa next to Lily.

"Just worried about Lee." Lily said softly. James frowned slightly.

"Well, Madame Pomfrey said she'd be ok. Why don't you dry off or go and have a shower." James suggested. Lily nodded.

"Ok. April, will you be ok?" Lily asked her friend. April nodded. 

"I'm going to our room." She said. 

"I need to get some fresh robes. I'll be down in a minute" Lily said to James. He nodded and sat on the sofa. Remus sat on the sofa next to James.

"They don't look good do they?" Remus asked.

"No." James said.

"You really like Lily don't you?" Remus asked. James looked at Remus.

"Yeah I do." James said. "I like everything about her." James sighed. "and every time I'm near her I just want to  hold her and protect her but I know she can look after herself but still. I just want to look after her." James said. Sirius had joined the group and was looking at James slightly disturbed.

"My god Prongs, I think you're falling in love." Sirius said.

"What?" James asked. "That's just stupid."

"Is it?" Remus asked James. James looked at Remus when it dawned on him that maybe he was in love with the head girl.

"Hey," Lily said. "Am I disturbing anything?" James shook his head.

"Um.No, you having a bath?" He asked.

"Yeah." Lily blushed slightly "I kinda forgot the password to the Head's bathroom."

"Oh, it's." James looked at Sirius and Remus. "I'll come with you. We don't want these two scum bags getting into out bathroom and spoiling everything do we?" James said grinning.

"Who said we were scumbags?" Sirius asked.

"I did, now sit Padfoot" James said pointing to the sofa.

"How bout I sit on your face." Sirius said as a joke. James quickly joined Lily and started for the Portrait hole when Peter stumbled in soaked to the bone.

"Wormtail!" James said slightly surprised. Peter looked at James and smiled. "What happened to you mate?" 

"Oh, I got a bit lost. The rain confused me a bit." Peter lied.

"Oh right. Well I'll be back in a minute." James said. Lily and James carried on to the Prefect's common room. Once there they went through a secret passage to where two suits or armour guarded the head's bathroom. Their weapons crossed against a bare wall.

"Lemon squeeze" Lily said. The suits of armour lifted their weapons and the Wall disappeared. James looked at Lily confused.

"You knew the password?" James asked. Lily smiled.

"Yeah, I just wanted to spend some time with you." Lily said. She took James' hand and pulled him in the bathroom and put her things on the floor.

"I'm fine with that" James said quickly. Lily smiled and picked up a towel from a rack of nice warm fluffy white towels.

"Could you put on the Lavender and Camomile faucets while I change?" Lily asked as she went into a small changing cubicle. James quickly nodded his head and went to the appropriate taps. A pale yellow one for Camomile and a lilac one for Lavender. The bath was huge, it was more like a pool and it filled up within a few minutes. Kames switched the taps off where there were a few inches between the water and the edge of the bath. Five minutes later Lily came out wrapped in just a towel. James diverted his eyes to look somewhere else.

"I.I'll leave now." James said getting up

"No, stay." Lily said taking his arm to stop him from going.

"But you're having a bath" James said slowly. He tried to stop his eyes wandering but he couldn't help looking. Lily was revealing more then she normally did and even if most of her body was covered with the towel James still wanted to look. 

"James." Lily said. James thought for a while, he was very tempted to stay in the bathroom with her but it was wrong. Nothing like this had stopped him in the past but it just felt very wrong.

"No, I can't. I'll be in the Prefect common room." James said quickly leaving the bathroom and a slightly annoyed Lily.

Lily let the towel drop and she slipped into the hot bath. She really didn't know what was coming over her. She had never felt like this. Every time she thought she had James figured just a little he surprised her again. Lily didn't know what was wrong with her but she wanted James to stay with her. She reckoned that the attack on Lee made her feel slightly insecure and the only person who she felt safe around at the moment was James. Of course she felt safe with all her friends and in the Gryffindor Common room but she felt safest around James.

Lily dipped her head in the water and did a few laps in the pool before washing herself properly. She finally got up and started to dry herself off. She changed quickly and went to the Prefect common room. She had left her things in the Bathroom, knowing the house elves that worked at Hogwarts would clean everything and return it to her dorm room the next day. James was sitting in a chair near the large fireplace. He was frowning and had his chin in his hands. Lily sat on the small coffee table opposite him, startling him out of his trance.

"Lily" James said. He looked at her surprised. Her hair was still wet from her bath and she smelled so sweet. She smiled at him. She was so beautiful and he had turned down watching her bathe. Was she changing the infamous James Potter?

"So you're finally calling me Lily?" Lily asked him amused. James gave her a shy smile.

"Yeah, I don't know why though" He said trying to act cool

"Will you escort me back to the common room?" Lily asked James.

"Yeah, sure." James said a little too eagerly. Lily raised an eyebrow at James' sudden change in behaviour.

"Are you feeling ok?" She asked him curiously.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"Well, first you seemed to be a bit eager to do anything with me and then when I give you the chance to have a bath with me you turn down the offer and you're stammering and everything" Lily said. "You could be ill" Lily touched James' forehead as a joke but James looked at her seriously. He hand was soft and it made James shiver slightly. Lily looked at James seriously. James felt he had to tell Lily that he loved her. She had a right to know even if he had just realised it.

"Lily, I have something to tell you." James said uncertainly.

"What is it?" Lily asked seriously. She felt a lot better after having a bath. It was like the water had washed all her worries away. James took several deep breaths. Lily's green eyes glittered in the half light and she looked worried about him.

Lily herself was wandering what was so important that James was having difficulty telling her. James had always been so arrogant and up himself and he never faltered with his words. Always coming back with a smart and snappy come back or insult. She liked this version of James, the fumbling nervous James. The one that had enough sense to respect a girl.

"Lily, I don't know how to say this, no I do know how to say this but please don't over react or freak out." James said taking Lily's hands. Lily looked at their hands and then into James' sparkling brown eyes.

"God, this must be serious." Lily said worriedly.

"No, not really but I want to tell you." James took another breath. "I think I love you." He said. Lily snatched her hands away.

"What?" Lily asked slightly alarmed.

"I think I'm in love with you." James said. Lily looked at James slightly scared. 

"You're in love with me?" She asked. "Since when? How? We've just started to know each other." James nodded.

"I know but I only realised earlier when Sirius mentioned it but I think I really love you." James said. Lily looked at him suspiciously.

"This isn't a tactic to get me in bed with you is it?" She asked.

"No! I would never do that to you." James said. "Unless you wanted to but I know you don't." Lily got up slowly and looked around slightly confused.

"I'm going back to the common room" Lily said uncertainly. She quickly left the Prefect common room and literally ran to her dorm room. James slumped in the chair that he was sitting in. That had gone so badly. I_t could have gone worse_ said the little voice in his head. _She could have slapped you!_


	9. The Prefect Meeting

It was the middle of December and the grounds of Hogwarts was covered in snow. The second trip to Hogsmeade had just ended and Lily Evans was sitting in the Library finishing off an essay for the ghost Professor Binns. She was actually enjoying herself for the first time since James had told her he loved her. Lily was just writing her last sentence when someone shut the book she was getting her information from. The dust danced in the air and Lily looked up to see April and Jenny staring at her. They looked slightly annoyed and determined.

"Hi you two" Lily said quietly so as to not disturb anyone else in the library.

"We have a bone to pick with you." April said.

"What is it about?" Lily asked.

"James." Jenny answered. Lily's face went pale.

"Give me a few more minutes, I've just got this last sentence to write and I'm finished." Lily said.

"No, now." April said.

"Here?" Lily asked nervously. Jenny and April both nodded. Lily sighed and put her quill down. Jenny and April both pulled up chairs and looked at Lily expectantly.

"What do you want to know?" Lily asked.

"Why have you been avoiding James?" Jenny asked. "You were getting along so well with him and we even thought that you two might actually get together but suddenly you two are avoiding each other." Lily kept her mouth shut while Jenny spoke to her

"And Sirius says he's really depressed" April said slightly annoyed.

"He's lost his enthusiasm for Quidditch, which I thought was impossible" Jenny said.

"And the Halloween prank was cancelled" April said with despair

"What happened?" Jenny ordered Lily to tell her

"And tell us the truth because we can tell if you're lying." Jenny said. Lily looked at her friends nervously. There were a few other people in the Library and they had obviously heard April and Jenny on their little rant. Lily didn't really want to talk about what had happened but she knew she had to tell April and Jenny soon.

"Well, I don't really want to talk about it here." Lily said. She picked up her quill but April snatched it away.

"No, tell us." April said.

"Please Lily." Jenny asked slightly gentler then April. Lily frowned then nodded.

"Fine." She said. She leaned closer to April and Jenny so that no one would hear her but them. They leaned in as well. "James told me he loved me." Lily whispered. April's mouth dropped and Jenny stared at Lily. In their shock Lily got her quill back and wrote the rest of her sentence.

"What did you say?" Jenny asked as she recovered.

"Nothing." Lily said putting her parchment into her bag.

"You what!" April shouted.

"Shh!" snapped the librarian. April glanced at the librarian and ignored her. She turned back to Lily.

"Do you love him?" April asked.

"I don't think I do but I'm not sure. That's what I've been doing since he told me" Lily said.

"You've been thinking about it for two months, you must know by now." April said.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I really don't know. We had only just gotten to know each other when he told me and it kinda freaked me out." Lily said. She blushed and smiled slightly as she remembered the night he told her. She still couldn't believe that she had asked James to stay with her while she had a bath.

"What?" Jenny asked noticing Lily blush. Lily bit her lip and looked at the table.

"The night he told me, I kinda asked him to stay with me while I had a bath but he refused. It was when Lee was attacked" Lily said, April looked at her like she had reached a sudden realisation.

"That's why you didn't say anything when you got back that night." April asked. Lily nodded and picked up her bag. She got up and headed out of the library. April and Jenny both followed her.

"Whoa, wait Lily, you got to tell us more." Jenny said.

"It's not a big deal." Lily said. "I have a Prefect meeting to get to." 

"Ok, but do something for us Lily." April said. 

"Depends what it is." Lily said.

"Talk to James. Have you seen how depressed he is?" April said. Lily thought for a while.

"I'll think about it." Lily said. She pushed past April and Jenny and hurried to the Gryffindor Common room.

Behind a book case the Slytherin Seventh year girl, Shirley Parker, thought over what she'd just heard. This would make for some good conversation.

*    *    *    *

"Hey Evans." Said the Slytherin seventh year prefect, Jeffrey Benson, as she went into the Prefect common room. He gave her a look that showed no friendliness but lust and in return got a look that could have killed every Slytherin if looks could kill. Lily hated the Slytherin Prefects. She hated Slytherins, full stop. Everytime one of them passed they were trying to trip her up, hex her, they'd shout shings at her just because her parents were non-magic folk. 

"Wanna come by the Prefect bathroom today?" He drawled. Lily looked at him confused before quickly taking her seat near the head of the table. James wandered into the room about five minutes later. As April and Jenny had told her, James looked tired, depressed and just down-right miserable. Had she, Lily, done this to him? She found it hard to believe. The Slytherin Prefect got up and made his way to Lily.

"You know, I'm less likely to say no to an invitation to watch you bath then Potter, even if you are a mudblood" He muttered in her ear. Lily stood up and held her wand out at him.

"How do you know about that?" She asked him. Everyone in the room stared at Lily. That meant almost all the prefects in the school.

"Everyone knows about you and Potter" Jeffrey said, amused at Lily's reaction. 

"What about us?" James asked from across the table.

"That you." Jeffrey pointed at James, "turned her down when she was having a bath" James stared wide-eyed like this was new news to him. All the Prefects, except the Slytherin ones, turned to each other and started whispering.

"Who told you?" Lily said, her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I don't know, someone in the common room. I thought you were the goody goody mudblood bitch but it turned out you're just a common hoe, just like the rest of the girls in this fucking school" Jeffrey said. That was enough for James, no one insulted Lily like that. He jumped on the table and launched himself at Jeffrey.

"James!" Lily said reaching for James as the two boys rolled to the floor. James landed on top and he lifted his fist ready to punch Jeffrey. Lily grabbed his arm before he could let it connect with Jeffrey's face.

"Stop it James, do you really want to lose your badge?" Lily said pulling James to his feet. James straightened his robes.

"I don't care." He said.

"I do." Lily said. "I'd rather have you as head boy" she added in a whisper. James stared at her for a moment before nodding.

"Ok." James said obediently. He was about to go back to his seat when he fell into Lily as Jeffrey threw a hex at his back.

"That's not fair." Said Lee Chang as she got up and held her wand out. A few other prefects got up ready to fight. Lily had difficulty breathing and wondered for a few seconds what was going on when she realized that James was on top of her.

"James." She said breathlessly. Someone pulled James off and helped Lily to her feet. Lily looked up into the face of Remus. He was looking quite pale and tired.

"Are you ok?" he asked. Lily nodded. Lily looked at James to see him just coming round and managing to support himself on his feet.

"James?" Lily said, putting a hand on James' face and looking into his eyes concerned.

"Have I died?" he muttered. Lily smiled and gave him a quick hug, relieved that he was ok. She felt James tense for a moment before she let go and gave him another smile.

"What is happening here?" McGonagall asked strictly as she came in and saw the prefects pointing their wands at each other.

"Nothing Professor" Lily said. "Prefects." The prefects all sat down and tucked their wands back into their robes. McGonagall didn't look convinced but sat down in the seat at the head of the table as she caught sight of Jeffrey on the floor.

"What is Mr. Benson doing on the floor?" McGonagall asked.

"He was insulting Lily so I tried to stop him." James said rubbing the small of his back where the hex had hit him. McGonagall nodded slightly, she wasn't one to show favouritism but she knew that it took a lot to make James Potter attack someone for a girl. Benson must have been quite rude.

"What is it with you and Slytherins Miss. Evans?" McGonagall said to Lily. Lily felt her face go red as a few prefects asked what that meant. "Miss. Parker, please take Mr. Benson to the Hospital wing, we will start the meeting and then we'll update Mr. Benson later." Shirley Parker nodded and tried to haul Jeffrey to his feet and when that didn't work she used a spell and hovered him out of the room.

"Now, Prefects. I have four lists of the pupils who have chosen to stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas break. This is only the first list. Pupils may go home or they may decide to stay at the last minute. I would like the older prefects to sort out these lists for me and then inform the House elves." McGonagall said handing the lists to Lily, who passed them down but keeping the Gryffindor list for herself. "Also, I would like for Prefects to patrol in pairs from now on, this is due to an incident that happened a few months ago and measure are now being taken to prevent such incidents again. The new Prefect Rotas will be up on the notice boards, you may go." McGonagall said. "Oh, I would like to speak to the head students please, so Miss. Evans, Mr. Potter, would you mind staying." The two nodded and the other prefects started to file out of the common room. Remus turned to James,

"Padfoot and Wormtail will meet you later." Remus said. James nodded and looked at the table as if contemplating.

"What is it Professor?" Lily asked attentively.

"Lily I have noticed that you have been the focus of several.attacks by the Slytherin. I would like you to travel with another person at all times if possible." McGonagall said. Lily frowned at this but nodded.

"Anything else?" James asked.

"Yes, the headmaster would like to know the precise date of the ball. He is very anxious as to when it is." McGonagall said with a slight smile.

"February fourteenth. Or Valentine's day. It turns out that that day will be a Friday so we were hoping that the fourth years and above could get half the day off school" James told McGonagall

"Fourth years and above?" She enquired.

"Well, we feel it's not suitable for anyone below the fourth year unless they are invited by someone older then them." Lily said.

"Very good thinking. I'm sure that the headmaster will give you permission." McGonagall said.

"Oh, and we also would like there to be a Hogsmeade weekend the weekend before." James said.

"That can be arranged. Well thank you for your time you two." McGonagall got up to leave. "Potter I suggest that you try and keep your temper with anyone who insults your girlfriend." McGonagall said with a smile.

"I'm not his girlfriend" Lily said. McGonagall gave her a knowing nod and left.

"Alone again?" James said as he got up from his seat.

"Yeah." Lily said uncomfortably. She had been trying to avoid situations like this for a while. There was a few moments of awkward silence.

"Well, I have to Go, Marauder business but when you feel like talking to me again or even telling me how you feel in an insult, let me know." James said coldly as he left the room. Lily felt like hitting the table. She didn't get up however and glanced at the list that McGonagall had given her. As usual her name was at the top of the list. Below it was April's name. Jenny wasn't staying this year as her family wanted to spend the Christmas together after the attack on Lee. Lily sighed and stuffed the list into her bag. She got up and left the prefect common room for her dorm. As she entered the Gryffindor Common room April and Jenny jumped to their feet.

"Did you talk to him?" Jenny asked

"Sort of." Lily said. 

"What does that mean?" April said suspiciously.

"He attacked Benson for me." Lily said. Jenny frowned while April looked amused. "Somehow the Slytherins all know about James and I." Lily said frowning. "It's going to be all over the school tomorrow."

"How do you know? It might just be-"

"All the prefects know!" Lily said, collapsing on a sofa. April looked at Lily sympathetically before sitting on her stomach.

"Look at the bright side, it'll give you and James something to talk about." April said. Lily poked April as she said this.

"Get off." Lily said.

"Not until you talk to James" April said.

"How can I if you're sitting on me and he's busy with Marauder business." Lily said trying to mimic James on the last few words.

"Never do impressions." April said seriously, "Not even of James." Lily nodded.

"And how's that essay for Transfiguration coming along April?" Lily asked casually. April's eyes widened before she ran off to their dorm room to go and get her homework. Lily started laughing and got a reading book out of her bag.


	10. The First Kiss

Lily frowned as she read the letter from her parents, it was a week before the holidays and her parents had just told her that they wanted her at home to meet Petunia's fiancé.

"Who would want to marry Petunia?" April asked Lily confused.

"I have no idea." Lily replied, just as confused and mystified as April.

"A brave man would marry Petunia, or an insanely dumb one" Jenny told them. This caused the girls to start laughing. Lily scrunched up the letter and threw it in the air. April quickly got out her wand and blasted it with some sparks. The result was a burning piece of paper falling back onto the table.

"Mission accomplished" Lily said happily.

"To right my sister" April said putting an arm around Lily.

"Have you spoken to James yet?" Jenny asked Lily. Lily's smile disappeared and she tried to think of an answer. In truth every time she thought of James she started to feel quite happy but then she'd remember how she'd treated him and how she'd reacted and then she'd feel quite depressed again.

"Um.no, not really" Lily said. "We haven't spoken about him loving me but we have spoken about the story that's going round" Lily said.

"The one about how you secretly ambushed James in the Common room and tried to force him to have sex with you?" Jenny said laughing.

"Or the one where you two were getting really passionate and Dumbledore walking in on you?" April asked.

"Or how about the one where-" Jenny started but never stopped.

"Alright, yeah, those ones" Lily said smiling. The story of her and James had been lost somewhere and many others had sprung from it, no doubt the Slytherins were trying to twist it as much as they could. Lily and her friends mostly laughed about it, the stories were so ridiculous but it did annoy her when several guys in the school had started throwing rude comments at her and suggesting they do things that Lily, quite frankly didn't want to do.

"You have to talk to him." Jenny said, like it was painful for her to talk about it.

"I can't." Lily said.

"Yes you can and speak of the devil." April said as she looked to the entrance of the Great hall. She had her fingers over her chin and lily knew she was waiting for Sirius. No one was quite sure how involved the two were as they seemed to bicker as much as they snogged. Lily looked up to see the Marauders coming into the hall. They were talking about something and Sirius had Peter in a headlock.

"Go and talk to him." April said pulling Lily to her feet as she got up. "There's no time like the present." 

"April, no." Lily protested as April dragged her to the Marauders.

"Hi Sirius." April said as they met. Sirius grinned, let go of Peter and put his arms around April dramatically.

"My dearest girlfriend, how do I find thee on this fine cold day?" Sirius said a bit too loudly. April didn't care though.

"I might need a little warming up a bit later." She said in a slightly deeper, more seductive voice.

"A service I am more then willing to give." Sirius said with a wide cheeky grin. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Oh, James, Lily would like a word with you." April said as she followed Sirius down the table. Lily looked at James,

"Yeah, could we talk outside?" Lily asked. James nodded.

"If you want." They left the castle and walked on the school grounds. There was still grey in the sky as the sun rose and the thick snow soaked through their uniforms. Lily cursed herself for not bringing her cloak.

"I want to talk to you about a few months ago. When you said you loved me." Lily said. James looked at the floor.

"Oh, that." He said sounding depressed. Lily looked at him. He didn't look like his usual handsome self but he still looked incredibly fit.

"I want you to know that I'm fine with it. I just freaked." Lily said stopping and turning to face James. James looked at her, his eyes filled with sadness but a spark of hope. "And I'm willing to be friends again, or maybe, if possible slightly more then friends" Lily said. James' eyes widened. Lily smiled and took his hands.

"Are you serious?" James asked. Lily smiled and nodded.

"I've never been more serious." She said. The wind was picking up slightly and James' cloak rippled in the wind. The cold had started to penetrate Lily's clothes but she didn't care. She was with James, just looking at him made her feel warm inside.

"You're shivering" James said after a little while. He pulled his cloak off and wrapped it around Lily.

"What about you?" Lily said.

"What about me?" James asked with a smirk. Lily grinned.

"Nothing." She said. James crossed his arms and rubbed his upper arms.

"I think we should head back to the castle" James said. Lily nodded and let James take his hand as he led them back through the thick snow.

"Oh, James, before we go back into the castle, there's something I want to do" Lily said. James stopped and looked at her. Lily got closer to him and stood on her tiptoes and gently pressed her lips against his. His lips were so warm and soft and they tasted so sweet.

James could have said the same for Lily. Bells went of in his head and he pulled Lily closer to him. He heard her giggle slightly before he pressed his mouth against hers again. This time she didn't slap him like she would have done usually but she returned the kiss with a fiery passion. It was the perfect way to start the day.

Up in the main entrance of the castle. Jenny, April, Sirius and Remus were watching to see what happened. Peter had complained that he was hungry and had gone back into the great hall to get breakfast.

"Can you see anything?" April asked squinting.

"He just gave her his cloak" Jenny said. "I think you might need glasses" April looked at Jenny, 

"No, vision is fine." April said.

"I don't get her." Sirius said. "One minute she's all angry at James for hating her, then she's angry at James for loving her. What is it with you girls?" Sirius asked.

"Never tell a girl you love her when she's least expecting it or if you've only been on first name terms for less then a week." April said, letting Sirius wrap his arms around her.

"This is actually a bit exciting." Remus said. "I can sort of see why girls are so fascinated in this kind of thing." Jenny gave Remus a smile

"Welcome to the world of Girls." Jenny said.

"Oh merlin, guys she just kissed him." April said excitedly.

"What!" Jenny asked She looked at the two figures standing in the snow. There was a romantic vibe coming off the grounds and the world seemed so magical and perfect.

"Yes!" April said throwing her hands in the air. Jenny and April hugged each other like they had just won the lottery.

"Now that I don't get." Remus said pointing at them.


	11. Journey Home

"Ready to go?" April asked Lily. Lily's parents had said that April could stay at their house over Christmas provided they didn't cause any trouble. April was ecstatic because that meant she wouldn't be staying in the Gryffindor Common room all on her own. It also meant that Lily and April could go and visit James and Sirius.

"No, I don't want to go." Lily said as she stuffed the last of her books into her trunk.

"Aw, You'll have me" April said hugging Lily. Lily grinned.

"Of course, how could I forget?" Lily said. April hit Lily for the remark and let go of her.

"I know why you're not ready, you're going to miss James" April said in a slight baby voice.

"No I'm not." Lily said defensively. "We're just friends again." That was in a way true, though Lily and James did sneak off occasionally they were actually dating.

"Yeah, whatever. We saw you two kissing though" April said knowingly. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Come on, lets get breakfast, Jenny's waiting for us." Lily said.

"But I can't go down like this!" April said putting a hand to her hair. Lily sighed and pulled out her wand. "Oh, no. After what you did to James I don't trust you near my hair." April warned.

"Oh, grow up." Lily said flicking her wand. April's hair immediately went completely straight. April turned to admire herself in the mirror

"Have you ever considered becoming a beautician?" April said.

"No, now lets go." Lily said impatiently.

*    *    *    *

"Lets see. We need three empty compartments" Sirius said as the marauders walked down the train.

"Three?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, one for me and April. One for Lily and James and one for the rest of you." Sirius said grinning.

"Lily and I are only friends, we're not going to go and do whatever you and April do" James said.

"Of course." Sirius said in a mock serious tone. "I forgot, you are just friends. The fact that you sneak off with her is because you have to 'patrol'" Sirius said. James looked at Sirius pretending to look angry. Sirius stuck his tongue out at James and they started wrestling on the train floor. Remus started laughing and Peter watched timidly. The two wrestled until someone cleared their throat. 

"Good day boys" came Lily's voice. Sirius and James looked up to see Lily standing over them. James quickly got to his feet.

"Hi Lily." He said quickly. His hand went to his hair and he was about to ruffle it up again when he remembered that Lily didn't like that so he tried to flatten it. Lily tried to hide her smile when she saw this.

"The girls and I were wandering whether you'd like to join us in our compartment?" Lily asked.

"When you say girls would April be included?" Sirius asked as he stood up.

"Of course." Lily said. Sirius quickly pushed past and looked through all the compartments.

"I thought you and April were staying at the school." Remus said as the other three marauders walked down the train with Lily.

"Yeah, we were going to but Mum wants me home to meet my sister's fiancé. And because my sister is a total bitch I asked if April could stay with me." Lily said.

"I'm sure she's not that bad," James said. Lily gave him a look that said yeah right. He put an arm around her shoulders and pouted slightly, "Poor ickle Lily got an evil person for a sister" James said like he was talking to a baby. Lily gave him a sharp look but James quickly kissed her and the look disappeared and was replaced by a smile. Remus rolled his eyes

"Please, you're almost as bad Sirius and April." He said.

"We are not." Lily said quickly.

"Yeah" Remus said. They went into the Compartment that Lily's friends had saved to find that April and Sirius were already joined at the mouth.

"Thank god you're here. Do you know how boring it is talking to these two?" Jenny said. Lily grinned and sat next to Jenny.

"We're here to save you." She said.

"Yes, the super Marauders minus one" James said puffing out his chest. Lily poked his stomach quite hard and James doubled over.

"Just sit down." Lily said.

"Yes Professor" James said formally. Lily wanted to hit him for that but she couldn't bring herself around to do it so instead she leaned against him.

"What is everyone doing for their holidays then?" Remus asked after a few moments of nothing but April and Sirius kissing.

"My family is going to China." Jenny said, "They feel it's too dangerous to spend the holiday here."

"Are you coming back?" April said, pulling away from Sirius' strong hold of her.

"Of course I am." Jenny said. "They're not going to disrupt our education."

"That's good" April said, visibly relieved.

"Well, I am going to Potter Manor." Sirius said. "And away from my evil family." Lily was all to aware of Sirius' hatred for his family. It used to be a regular occurrence in the school halls for Sirius to curse his brother Regulus Black until Regulus was killed by Voldemort. 

"Well, have fun, all you're probably going to do is Quidditch." April said.

"Or we could come and visit you." Sirius said. April put a finger on Sirius' lips.

"Sorry, you can't I'm staying at Lily's" April said pouting slightly.

"I'm sure mum and Dad will let them visit." Lily said. James gave Lily a smile and gave her a soft kiss.

"Oh no not those two." Jenny said rolling her eyes and turning away.

"You know, for friends you two are awfully close." April commented. Lily turned away and blushed.

"Yeah, well. He's the one who kisses me. I…put up with it." James gave her a look but Lily ignored him.

"Ok, Jenny now you have to choose Moony or Wormtail." Sirius said. "Which one?"

"What do you nicknames actually mean?" Jenny asked. The four boys went into an awkward silence.

"They're just names we call each other." James said

"Yeah but they must have, like an origin." April said.

"It's all a childhood thing" Sirius said. "but you." He looked at April and again they joined at the mouth.

"Oh please!" Peter muttered.

*    *     *     *

The journey passed quite quickly and they had to get off the train a bit too soon. It was incredibly difficult getting Sirius and April to separate but eventually Lily and Jenny managed to get April away. Lily saw her parents standing next to Jenny's parents talking.

"I'll see you after the holidays then," Lily said to James. James smiled.

"My parents are just behind your ones" James said smiling. Lily looked and behind her own parents were a couple, the man looked a bit like James and the woman had long brown hair. Lily smiled and pushed her trolley to her own parents.

"Hi mum" She said. A woman with dark blonde hair turned from talking to Jenny's mum and smiled. She had a similar build to Lily and was about the same height as her. She gave Lily a tight hug.

"How was your journey?" She asked. Lily shrugged.

"Hello Mr. And Mrs Evans." April said. 

"April." Lily's mum smiled. "Jenny, how have you been?" 

"I'm ok thank you." Jenny said.

"I'll see you some other time." James whispered to Lily. Lily turned to look at him.

"Ok, I'll ask mum and dad about you visiting." Lily told him. James grinned and gave Lily a quick kiss and dragged Sirius to his parents.

"Who was that?" Mr. Evans asked. Mr. Evans had brown hair and a strong jaw-line. He had the same green eyes as Lily had.

"He's the head boy" Lily said.

"And her boyfriend" April muttered.

"He is not my boyfriend" Lily snapped at her.

"Yeah right." April said.

"Ok, girls. We have to get home. I've left Petunia with the cooking and recently she's had a cold." Mrs. Evans said.

"Ok, bye Jenny, have fun in China" Lily said giving Jenny a hug.

"You to." She said. April came and joined in the hug.

"Jenny. Lee, come we must go." Jenny's mum said. Jenny pulled away and followed her sister and parents.

"Girls." Mr. Evans said. Lily's parents took the girls' trolleys and wheeled them to the car.

"I'm going to miss Sirius." April said nostalgically. Lily smiled as she hauled her trunk onto her bed.

"Do you love him?" Lily asked April.

"Maybe." April said with a smirk.

"Oh my god you do." Lily said.

"Yeah, Lily, why are you doing that, use your wand" April said. She got her wand out and pointed it at Lily's trunk. "Sortae" The trunk opened and all of Lily's things flew out of her trunk and flew to their proper places. Lily had to duck as a book flew past her, where her head had been seconds before. April wasn't quite as lucky as an inkpot flew into her and shattered.

"April!" Lily said. Lily got her own wand out and performed a spell. The ink disappeared and then she fixed the inkpot.

"Sorry." April said looking sorry. Lily tried to keep a serious face but she started laughing. April started laughing as well but a scream pierced the house.

"Lily!" screamed Lily's older sister. 

"What!" Lily shouted back. Lily and April headed to the living room, where they knew Petunia was. April and Lily had to try and prevent themselves from laughing as they saw Petunia wrestling with an owl, trying to keep it out. Petunia had quite thin hair and she was quite skinny and didn't look that strong. Petunia had always been jealous of Lily's looks and popularity and since it was obvious Lily was going to be a beauty she had tried to put Lily down.

"How many times do I have to tell you to keep your freaky things to yourself." Petunia said.

"You're not my mum Petunia." Lily said. "Accio." A letter flew past Petunia and into Lily's hand. Petunia let out another scream and the Owl flew away.

"Who is it from?" April asked anxiously. Lily opened it and smiled.

"It's from James." Lily said. "Hi, just got back home. I'm missing you so much already. Have you asked your mum about me coming to stay? Forever yours, James" Lily read to April.

"That's so sweet" April said as she read the letter as well.

"Who the hell is James?" Petunia asked. "And you are not having anymore freaks around our house." Petunia said.

"That's up to mum to decide. Besides if it bothers you that much I'll take them to the cinema" Lily said.

"Oh, can we go later?" April asked. April, being from an all magic family, had rarely been to the cinema, she only went with Lily. She loved the cinema and was always amazed at how muggles got along without magic.

"Lily dear," Mrs. Evans said from the kitchen, "When you've finished unpacking could you and April pop to the corner shop and get some milk?" April's eyes lit up.

"Lets go now." April said. April loved the muggle way of life but could never imagine living without magic.


	12. The Surprise Visit

"Lily can we get some of these." April asked as they walked through the small corner shop. She picked up a packet of incredibly fatty crisps.

"No April" Lily said smiling. "Those will make you blow up like a balloon." Lily was referring to the amount of fat that the food contained but April took it literally and put the food back looking at it slightly scared. Lily had to laugh and pulled April to the fridge where the Milk was.

"What about these?" April asked picking up a can of Cola. 

"Ok." Lily said. "Put it in the basket." April put a few cans of cola in as Lily put in two cartons of Milk. They went to the counter and Lily was surprised to see there was a slight queue. 

"Did we have any homework?" April asked as she looked at a muggle magazine.

"Yeah, Transfiguration essay and we had to write about the theory behind veiraserum." Lily said. 

"I think Grout set us something as well." April said. Lily looked at April slightly stunned

"Since when have you cared about homework anyway?" Lily asked.

"Anything to keep my mind from wandering" April said. Lily looked at her slightly confused.

"I think Sirius has changed you." Lily said. "No, that's a lie." 

"Excuse me, have you finished with this magazine?" asked the man behind them. Lily and April looked at him and April nodded.

"Yes, here." April handed him the magazine.

"Thank you. I'm Dr. Granger, I own the dentist practice down the road" He said smiling.

"Lily Evans." Lily said. "And this is April Marsden"

"Evans? Have you got a sister called Petunia Evans?" Dr. Granger asked.

"Yes."

"So you're the other daughter, I've just moved next door to your house." He said.

"Oh, ok." Lily said. She glanced at April, who had picked up another magazine.

"I haven't seen you around very much"

"I go to boarding school somewhere up north. I'm home for the holidays" Lily told him

"Oh yes, I vaguely remember your parents telling me, You're head girl?" Lily smiled and nodded.

"The whole world knows." April said. "You are to clever for your own right" April said pointing a finger at Lily.

"Next please" the man at the counter said.

"That us. Nice speaking to you Dr. Granger." Lily said. She put the basket on the counter, paid and left with the drinks.

"That was so weird." April said as they left the shop.

"Yeah," Lily glanced around to make sure that no one was around and went down a small alley way and with a small pop both Lily and April disappeared.

*    *    *    *

The lead up to Christmas passed quite quickly for Lily. She spent a lot of time helping April get her spells up to scratch. She found it weird because April had this sudden urge to work hard and she appeared to want to be as smart as Lily. Fortunately they were now old enough to do magic out school.

"No, April this is the wand movement" Lily said giving her wand a flick and then swiping it down. It was Christmas Eve and they were going through a few spells that even Lily found a little difficult but she managed them quite fine. April practiced and the door shattered. April and Lily both stared at the door in shock and surprise. Petunia was passing and she was stock still.

"What are you doing, you freak?" Petunia asked terrified.

"Reparo" Lily said pointing her wand at her now non-existent door. The shards and splinters gathered where the door was and the door reformed.

"Lets stop for a while" Lily said putting a hand on April's hand.

"Yeah." April put her wand on the desk as Lily tucked hers into her clothes but within easy reach.

"Why are you suddenly into studying?" Lily asked April.

"Well I just realised it's NEWT year and if I want to have the same Job as you or Jenny then I have to work harder." April said.

"You don't need to work more, you'll get a good job" Lily said.

"Not unless I study. You and Jenny are like the smartest students in the school and you know what you want to do. Jenny wants to become Minister of magic and you want to work in Muggle relations or you want to be an auror and I don't know what I'm going to do because I'm not clever or -- AH!" April was cut off as two bodies bounced on the bed with two loud pops, surprising her.

"Good day mon Cherie" Sirius said. April had a hand at her chest and she was breathing quickly on her make-shift bed. Lily was holding onto the chair of her desk.

"My god, could you give a girl some warning next time you do that." Lily said. "What are you doing here?" 

"We got a bit bored." James said. April looked at Lily uncertainly then got to her feet.

"Ok, I'll tell mum." Lily said. She got out her wand and a few seconds later she was standing in the kitchen. 

"Hello Lily." Said her mum without moving from her cooking.

"Mum, we have two extra people for dinner. Two of my friends from school have just…turned up." Lily said. Mrs. Evans looked up.

"Oh, who?" Mrs. Evans was always interested in Lily's life at school. She had been so proud when Lily had been accepted into the school

"The head boy and his best friend." Lily said slightly uncertainly. Lily wasn't sure how her parents would react to her having boys around. They had always been a bit over protective with Lily. Mrs. Evan frowned when James came down the stairs

"Good morning Mrs. Evans. I'm James Potter" James said holding out his hand. Mrs. Evans took it pleasantly surprised and shook it.

"Where's Sirius?" Lily whispered

"With April." James whispered back.

 "I suppose that you can have them round but they have to be gone by the time Vernon comes." Mrs. Evans said. 

"Who's Vernon?" Lily asked.

"Petunia's fiancé, he's going to stay the night in the spare room." Mrs. Evans.

"Oh." Lily said as her face fell. "Come on James, we'll go into the living room." Lily said. James smiled at Mrs. Evans politely and followed Lily into the Living room. The Living room was nicely decorates with warm earthy colours. There were photos scattered around the room, on the mantle piece, on shelves and on the coffee table. Lily sat on the sofa and watched James look at the pictures. He picked one up of Lily last summer standing with her mum. James prodded it with his finger.

"It's not moving." James said. Lily smiled.

"It's a Muggle photo." Lily said getting up and taking the photo from James and putting it back down. "The Wizard photos have been put away because _Vernon_ is coming for a few days." James smirked.

"You don't sound you like him" James said putting his hands on Lily's waist.

"Well I haven't met him" Lily said looking at James. James pulled her slightly closer and their faces came closer. "So I don't really know what he's like." Lily made the first move and closed her eyes and kissed James gently. Lily felt the normal tingle run through her body at the touch of James' lips. After a few moments she felt his tongue in her mouth and she pulled away quickly.

"Sorry" James said sincerely.

"No, it's ok" Lily said tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, almost shyly. "Just got me a bit by surprise." She smiled and kissed James again.

"And they call us bad" Sirius said from the door. Lily opened her eyes and looked at the door where April and Sirius were giving them both strange looks.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Nothing." April said innocently. She pulled Sirius to a chair and Sirius sat on it and pulled April onto his lap. James and Lily sat on the sofa and Lily picked up the TV remote.

"Are you sure you're not a couple?" April asked. Lily gave her a small smile.

"Oh yeah, Lily, I've been meaning to ask you something" James said. Lily looked at him interested. "Will you go out with me?" James asked. Lily grinned and nodded.

"Took you six and a half years and you've finally done it." Sirius said. April giggled and put her arm around Sirius.

"What's on TV?" April asked. Lily pressed the on button on the remote and the TV came on. James and Sirius both jumped slightly when the TV came on.

"What is that?" James asked.

"It's called a TV" April said knowledgeably, "It's a form of Entertainment that Muggles use. It's actually really cool." Lily nodded and flicked through the channels.

"Oh look Grease is on" Lily said.

"What?" Sirius asked, "Grease? What the hell is Grease?" Lily looked at Sirius surprised then remembered he didn't have a muggle upbringing like she did

"It's a musical that every single Muggle child knows about." Lily said.

"I like musicals." James said without thinking. The other three in the room looked at him.

"He's turning into a Poof" Sirius whispered. April started giggling again and Lily tried not to laugh.

"I mean, they're alright." James corrected, "My mum takes me to see quite a few at the theatre just off Diagon Alley." Lily took his hand and patted his arm.

"It's alright dear, I understand" she said. Her face cracked up into a grin and she started laughing. James looked at the three in slight disgust and crossed his arms slightly annoyed.

"Have you two heard anything about you-know-who?" April asked suddenly.

"Yeah," James said. "Dad told me that the ministry is finding even more supporters and they're getting younger."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Cole Benson is a deatheater" Sirius snarled. Lily flinched slightly at the name but stayed quiet.

"Also, the dementors are getting restless." James said.

"Dementors?" Lily asked. "That word is really familiar." The three others looked at Lily.

"You don't know what dementors are?" April asked. Lily shook her head.

"You've probably read the entire library six times since you've been at Hogwarts and you've never once come across Dementors?" Sirius asked.

"What are they?" Lily asked them. 

"Dementors are the guards of Azkaban, the wizard prison, they sort of suck all the happiness out of you and then suck you soul out through your mouth if they kiss you." James said. "They would be more then happy to join you-know-who but the ministry is offering them some kind of deal to stay." James told Lily. Lily shivered at the thought of having all the happiness sucked out of her.

"So, do they kiss everyone who goes into Azkaban?" Lily asked.

"No, just the ones who are the most dangerous" James said.

"How do you know all this?" April asked.

"When you're parents are Aurors and you're one of the most troublesome boys in school, you learn to eavesdrop without getting caught." James said with a smile.

"Did you know Joni Simmons' family was attacked by you-know-who a few days ago" Sirius told them. 

"Joni Simmons? The fourth year?" Lily asked. Sirius nodded, "I though she was from an all magic family."

"Her granddad was a muggle. Her entire family was killed in their sleep, She's at school for the holidays so she's safe" James said. "You know, your family is in more danger? You know how much the Slytherin's hate you and I'm more then willing to bet at least half of them are in league with you-know-who" James said.

"I've told my parents, they're being as careful as they can" Lily said. James nodded.

*   *   *   *

Petunia Evans stood outside the door of the Living room. She didn't know what had possessed her to listen to her sister and her friends talk about their freak world. She did catch a few things though. Her family was in danger and other families were being killed. Petunia shook herself and came to her senses. She went into the kitchen and got a glass of water.

She was not going to let this family get killed by some freak person, well she wasn't going to let her parents get killed. Petunia couldn't care less what happened to her sister. She didn't like those boys either that her sister had invited over. They seemed very arrogant and Petunia recognised them from the summer when they had crashed her party for the hell of it. Why was her sister so kind to them when in the summer she was fuming. Petunia decided that her sister must be dating one of them and then she let the thoughts drift out of her mind.


	13. The Second Surprise Visit

"Lily, your friends have to go" Mrs. Evans said. "Vernon will be here any moment." Lily lifted her head off James' chest and glanced at the clock. It was nearly nine in the evening. 

"Ok." Lily said groggily.

"She awakes!" Sirius said like a mad scientist. Lily looked at him confused.

"Don't worry, you and April fell asleep for a bit." James said kissing Lily on the forehead.

"I did?" Lily asked. "How long for?"

"An hour." Sirius said "I think we broke that TV thing, it switched off when we pressed one of these buttons." Sirius said holding up the remote.

"Accio" Lily said getting her wand out. She pressed the on button and the TV came on again. "No you didn't break it." She sat up and ran a hand over her hair.

"Well you guys better go." She said to James and Sirius. Sirius nodded and kissed April's forehead and disappeared with a pop. April started awake as she fell onto the chair.

"I'll see you soon." James said quietly.

"Ok." Lily said. "bye."

"Bye." James said giving Lily a kiss. "I love you." Lily nodded to show that she knew and James disappeared with a pop. April sighed and sank into the chair.

"I'm so tired." She said.

"Vernon will be here any minute." Lily said.

"Who's Vernon?" April asked.

"Don't ask." Lily said. April nodded as Lily lay back down on the Sofa. The doorbell rang and they heard Petunia let out an excited squeal.

"Urgh…please" April said, she reached for her wand to close the door but realised that she'd left it in the bedroom. Lily shifted down the sofa and kicked the door.

"Oh, Vernon, darling, honey" came Petunia's voice through the door. "Come into the living room."

"Uh oh." Lily said. She sat up and looked at the packets of crisps and chocolate wrappers that littered the Living room. She whipped her wand out and muttered a spell and everything vanished just as the door opened. Lily didn't have time to put her wand away when Petunia walked in followed by a beefy looking man. He didn't appear to have a neck and he had a bristly looking moustache and he looked at April and Lily curiously then his gaze went to Lily's wand. She quickly put it behind her back.

"Oh, this is my sister" Petunia said like Lily was a piece of dirt. "And that's her…friend" April looked at Petunia like she was evil but Lily kept herself composed.

"Come on April, it's clear my darling sister would love us to hang around" Lily said sarcastically as she got up. April stood up as well and followed Lily out into the kitchen.

"You never told me you had a sister." Came Vernon's voice. It didn't sound very attractive or very kind. Lily could see in a way why Vernon liked Petunia.

"She's always at boarding school. She normally stays there all year except during the summer. I don't know why she bothered to come home this time. She's a bit of a freak and she goes to a special school, she's not really right in the head" Petunia said shrilly and slightly louder then she normally did so Lily could hear. Lily felt herself shaking slightly and she put her wand on the kitchen counter and turned to look at April.

"Calm down." April said calmly. She went to Lily and gave her a tight hug. Lily felt herself calm slightly but she still felt annoyed at Petunia.

"If she wasn't my sister then I would just curse her" Lily said.

"Maybe we can get something from James and Sirius." April said. Lily looked at April like it was a good idea but thought against it.

*    *    *    *

"Yes, I've just started up a very successful company that sells drills to large cooperate companies. It can be a very good business if you know the right people and you have the right deals. I myself have the right contacts because my father knows quite a few large company. We recently got a shipment of-" Lily turned to April. The both of them were so bored they were close to tears. Vernon had gone on about Drills and his car for at least the entire duration of Christmas dinner.

"I suggest we go to Potter Manor after this" April said.

"I can't just leave." Lily said.

"Use that Replica charm you know." April whispered

"No, that wouldn't work properly. You need to drink a potion that allows you to transfer your personality." Lily whispered. Petunia caught half of what Lily said and turned and glared at her. Lily gave Petunia a nasty look and turned back to April. Mr. Evans had ordered that Lily and April keep their wands upstairs so they couldn't pull any tricks. He was slightly more hesitant and wary of magic then Lily's mum.

"What did Jenny get you?" Lily asked April. April had woken up a few minutes earlier then Lily but she had managed to open half her presents.

"She got me an enchanted Chocolate bar." April said. Lily looked at her confused. April put a hand in her pocket and pulled out a small note. Lily took it and read it.

For you and Sirius. Just give him a little bit and you have a bit and next thing you know…well I think you'll guess. Just don't have any in the common room where people can see. Merry Christmas Jenny XXX

Lily laughed at the note.

"Lily." Mr. Evans said. Lily looked up and Mr. Evans looked enquiringly at the note and gave it back to April.

"Sorry." Lily said. "It's just a note from Jenny. She says merry Christmas" Lily said. Mr. Evans nodded and went back to listen to Vernon finish his story. Lily rolled her eyes and looked at April for help. April shrugged and continued to eat.

*    *    *    *

CRACK!

Lily bolted up right in her bed and looked around in her room. iWhat was that?/i she asked herself urgently. She looked at the digital clock on the side of her bed. Three o'clock. Lily waited for a few more minutes and tried to listen for something. There was the sound of a door opening and closing.

"Incendio" a voice said in the hall. Lily rolled off her bed and picked up her wand. She put a hand on April and shook her.

"April" Lily whispered urgently. April let out a protesting moan. "April I think there's someone in the house" April turned and looked at Lily

"What? It's probably just your parents." April said. Lily grabbed April's wand and pressed it into April's hand. 

"My parents don't know spells." Lily said. There was a creaking of a floorboard outside Lily's room and April sat up right, almost as awake as Lily. She held her wand out and she got out of the bed and stood up with Lily. Lily looked at April and held the doorknob. April nodded and Lily pulled the door open. A figure stood in the doorway. He was wearing a large hooded black cloak and he held his wand ready. Lily and April stood in front of him. A death eater. There was a flickering in the hall and the smell of something burning reached Lily's nose. Another death eater behind him suddenly disappeared and left the other on his own.

"Stupefy" the death eater said.

"Protego." Lily shouted quickly. 

"Impedimenta" April shouted at the same time Lily cast her spell. The spell the deatheater had sent rebounded and struck him in the chest along with April's spell. The death eater flew into the wall and fell to the floor. April and Lily ran into the hallway and were instantly knocked back by some intense heat.

"Fire!" April shouted. The whole of the landing by the bathroom and Lily's parents' room was on fire. Lily's mind went completely blank as she tried to think of a spell to put it out. Lily tried to think of something but what if something happened to her parents. Why was there a deatheater in her house?

"April, I can't think" Lily said worriedly. April looked worriedly and looked at the fire. April pointed her wand at the fire and said the first spell that came to her mind. A jet of foam and bubbles shot out of the end of her wand and doused the fire. Lily started shaking and ran to her parents' room.

"Mum, Dad!" Lily shouted. A door opened and Petunia came running out of her room in her sleeping clothes. She was about to say something when she saw the deatheater and half the landing covered in foam.

"What have you done?" Petunia said rounding on April.

"Silencio" April said in frustration. Petunia suddenly went silent even though she hadn't noticed and was still raving.

"They've used Magic to seal the door" Lily said frantically crashing against the door. April ran over and pointed at the door.

"Alohamora" 

"That doesn't work" Lily said to her. April nodded and looked at the death eater who was starting to get up.

"He's getting up." April said. Lily turned to the death eater.

"Petrificus Totalus" Lily said and the Death eater fell to the floor unable to move. Petunia stared at Lily in fear and banged on Vernon's door. She was saying something but no sound came out. She opened the door and went into the room. Lily looked at April.

"I put a charm on her." April said. Lily nodded and went to the Death eater. She lifted the hood to show a man with platinum blond hair and cold grey eyes. Lily recognised him. She had seen him around Diagon Alley a few times.

"Lucious Malfoy." April said. Lily's eyes flashed with anger and April was about to assist her try and hurt him when there was suddenly three small cracks like a whip and three aurors stood in the landing between April and Lily.

"Miss. Evans, we can take it from here." Said one of the aurors. They all wore hooded cloaks and they were all holding wands. One of the Aurors helped Lily to her feet and led her towards April while the other two picked up the death eater. The auror lowered her hood and revealed herself to be Mrs. Potter.

"What happened?" she asked.

"He attacked us. He's locked my parents door" Lily said quickly and frantically. Mrs. Potter went to the door and tried Alohamora but when that didn't work she muttered a few other spells. 

"Alistor" she said. One of the other Aurors turned and went to Mrs. Potter. Mrs. Potter nodded towards the door and they both went in. Lily and April began to follow when the third Auror told them to stay behind.

"Did anyone else see this?" He asked. Lily nodded.

"My sister." She said.

"Where is she?" He asked. Lily pointed to the spare room and the auror nodded. Mrs. Potter came out of the room looking dark and sad. Lily turned to her.

"Are they ok?" Lily asked. April turned as well.

"Lily, April, come downstairs." Mrs. Potter said. "Matthew, you will be able to handle Malfoy?" the other auror nodded and disappeared with the deatheater.

"No, tell me now" Lily shouted at Mrs. Potter.

"Lily, I really think that you should sit down or go somewhere comfortable." Mrs. Potter said.

"Are they dead?" April asked quietly. Mrs. Potter looked at April sadly. Lily looked at her for an answer. Mrs. Potter turned her gaze to Lily and then lowered her gaze.

"I'm sorry Lily." She said. Lily stared in disbelief.

"No, they're not dead. They can't be!"  Lily said.

"They were killed by a killing curse. I'm so sorry Lily." Mrs. Potter said. Lily tried to keep the tears in but couldn't stop them from coming out when April pulled her into an embrace.

"They can't be dead." Lily whimpered. April started crying as well. Lily's parents had always been so kind and welcoming to her.

Petunia opened the door slightly and looked out. There was another figure standing with her freak sister and that freak friend.

"Petunia, what's happening?" Vernon asked. Petunia held a hand up. That stupid friend had done something to her so that she couldn't speak.

"They were killed by a killing curse, I'm so sorry Lily." Said the figure. Petunia stared in horror and left the room. She wanted to scream at her sister but she couldn't say anything. The figure turned and guessed what happened to her voice and muttered a few words and Petunia's screaming filled the room.

"You killed them! You bitch, you and your freak world, you killed them!" Petunia screamed at her crying sister. Lily looked at Petunia and shook her head.

"No, I didn't." Lily said. Lily pleaded with her sister slightly through her eyes. Lily held onto April tightly and tried to hold back her sobs.

"Yes you did. All because you go to that freak school! It's all your fault!" Petunia said. Vernon came running out of the room and put a hand on Petunia's shoulder. He looked at the other figure. A thin medium height woman with long tumbling brown locks and sad brown eyes.

"Who are you?" He asked her.

"Get out of my house!" Petunia screamed at Lily. Lily started crying even more and April held her, just as distraught. The woman sighed and put an arm around Lily.

"Come on, we'll get you somewhere where you can have some peace." She said. She then looked at Petunia and shook her head.

"I am sorry for your loss. If you don't mind talking to Mr. Moody when he emerges from your parents' room." The woman said. Petunia looked at her with disgust as the woman took her sister and April downstairs. She heard the woman say "Portus" but Petunia was fuming and angry and upset.


	14. The Potter House

James and Sirius were sitting in the large living room of Potter manor with rolls of Parchment and ink scattered across the floor. There were maps of the school and lists of pranks they had pulled so they didn't repeat one again.

"So, if we set off some fireworks there and then we can distract everyone long enough to flood the Slytherin common room" Sirius said.

"I don't know. How are we going to flood the common room?" James asked. He looked at a map and then noticed some toilets near the Slytherin Common room. "Ah ha. If we start flooding these toilets. We could get April and Lily and Jenny to go into the girls loos to start flooding them and then that might get it going."

"Or we could just ask Moaning Myrtle." Sirius said. "Lily and Jenny would never agree, they're too into rules to break any."

"Yeah true. Well, we'll go and talk to Moaning Myrtle when we get back to school" James said.

"I think we should do it on the night of the ball." Sirius said with a cheeky grin. James grinned as well and was about to say something when he heard people talking somewhere in his house. He frowned and looked up

"That's a bit strange. We're the only ones in the house aren't we?" James asked Sirius.

"Yeah, last night your parents said they'd be on raids and stuff." Sirius said. James and Sirius got up and went to the door. They left the living room and walked through the large manor to the entrance hall where there was a large extravagant looking flight of stairs that led to the upper floors. In the entrance hall stood James' mum and a red haired girl.

"Where's April?" Lily asked Mrs. Potter.

"I've taken her home. You stay here until school starts again." Mrs. Potter said. Lily nodded and held her wand tightly.

"Now, I'm going to go and talk to the house elf. He'll get a room ready for you and get you a butterbeer." Mrs. Potter said putting a hand on Lily's red hair.

"Mum, what happened?" James asked walking into the Entrance hall with Sirius. Lily turned quickly then wiped her eyes to try and get rid of her tears. Mrs. Potter grimaced and looked at Lily.

"Lily, Sirius will take you to the Living room. I need to talk to my son for a minute" Mrs. Potter said. Lily nodded and Sirius took her to the Living room.

"What happened? Why's Lily here?" James asked worriedly.

"There was a death eater attack on her house last night. She's just spent five hours at the ministry and they've given us temporary custody of her until she leaves Hogwarts. She wasn't exactly welcome to stay with her sister. I've got to get back and sort out the mess but look after her James and don't press her for anything." Mrs. Potter said.

"What kind of attack?" James asked his mum. Mrs. Potter sighed sadly.

"Her parents were killed."

"What about April?"

"She's with her own parents. They've been called back from Turkey and she'll be fine." Mrs. Potter said. "Go and find Lorin and tell him to get one of the guest rooms ready and to get Lily a butterbeer." Mrs. Potter suddenly disappeared and James turned to go to the kitchen.

*    *    *    *

Sirius sat next to Lily. Lily was hugging her legs close to her and was rocking slightly.

"What happened?" Sirius asked. The parchment was still everywhere but this was a lot more urgent. Lily wouldn't be here unless Mrs. Potter thought that she should be here. Lily tried to fight the urge to cry again. How could someone kill her parents, why would someone kill her parents? She had seen the dark mark hovering over her house as Mrs. Potter led them out of the house and made the portkey. All because she was a muggle born witch. Lily started crying again and Sirius gave her a tight hug.

"It's alright. You just cry." Sirius said. Lily did, it was like the floodgates had opened. She would have rather been in James arms but Sirius was kind and caring despite his outward attitude. Lily managed to cry herself to sleep in a matter of minutes and Sirius lowered her gently on the sofa they were on. He stood up and started to tidy up the parchments. There was going to be no more planning this holiday. James came into the room carrying a mug of butterbeer.

"How is Lily?" he asked. Sirius pointed at the sleeping Lily on the sofa. James put the butterbeer on a table and looked at his girlfriend.

"What happened?" Sirius asked.

"Her parents were killed" James said quietly so as not to wake Lily.

"What? By who?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know. April was with them and I think they some how managed to survive the deatheater attack. But April is with her parents right now." James said. "Lily is going to stay here. I think her sister drove her out of the house."

"And I thought my family was screwed" Sirius said darkly. "You know who ever did this is going to pay." James nodded.

"Deffinately." James said.

*    *    *    *

Lily opened her eyes to find herself in a large warm bed. At first she thought she was back at school but the decoration was different. She got up and looked around. Where was she? Where was April? Lily looked around again and noticed that the pillows had a coat of arms on them with a P in the middle. She remembered the previous day. She was at the Potter's house. Sirius and James were here and April was with her parents. Lily thought of her parents and she felt like crying again but there were no more tears left. Lily sank into the bed and pulled the Duvet over. Despite the roaring hot fire in the hearth in the room and the heat it gave off Lily still felt cold. There was a knock on the door and it opened slowly.

"Lily?" came James' voice quietly. Lily looked up and saw James in the doorway looking at her concerned.

"James." She said relieved. He went to the bed and Lily held him tightly. "Why do these things happen to me?" she asked quietly. "I'm not a bad person and I don't hurt anyone but why does everyone target me?" James put a hand on her back and stroked her hair.

"It's nothing to do with you." He said. "The people who do these things are evil. They don't deserve to live. You're safe here" Lily let go of James and looked into his eyes "And I won't let anyone do anything else to hurt you ever, I promise that I'll always be there to protect you from now on until I die." Lily wanted to smile but her face didn't want to work. James looked so serious and sincere about what he was saying. His eyes glittered slightly like he was trying to fight back tears. In that moment Lily knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She loved him and she would always love him she had always loved him. This started a fresh wave of crying and James held her tightly.

"I'm so stupid." Lily cried.

"No." James said. "You're anything but stupid." He pushed Lily away from him slightly and looked into her eyes. Lily felt slightly calmer and she felt slightly happier then she had been

"I love you James." She said. "I realised that I always have loved you but I tried to deny the feelings. I love you James." James gave her a kind smile and kissed her on the lips for a few seconds before pulling away. 

"You should sleep a little more." James said stroking Lily's hair again. She nodded. 

"Stay with me." She said. James nodded and shifted his position on the bed. Lily felt a lot safer as soon as James had moved on the bed. She held his hand as she tried to sleep again.

"Can you send an owl to Jenny."

"I already have" James said. "Now sleep. I'll be here when you wake up"

"You better be" Lily warned.


	15. Back to School on a full moon

The rest of the holidays were just made durable by the presence of Sirius and James. They both did anything and everything to cheer her up, they even gave her a private quidditch match in their underwear in the freezing weather. How they managed it eventually Lily could only guess but it was highly amusing. They were later joined by Remus and Peter. Remus was very sympathetic but Peter didn't say anything. He always sat in corner and listened to Remus, Sirius and James talk about the latest quidditch scores. They would talk about anything other then Voldemort or the Ministry of magic because, as Sirius and James had found out early on, Lily had a tendency of crying because it reminded her of her parents.

By the time they returned to school Lily and James were very close and Lily found the world bearable as long as James was nearby. They managed to find a compartment and waited there together until the others came.

"Hi Lily" Said Jenny coming into the compartment with a dishevelled looking April. "How are you coping?"

"Alright" Lily told her "You?" Jenny looked at Lily and then sat down next to her and gave her a tight sisterly hug.

"You don't need your sister," Jenny said. Lily gave her a sad smile and returned the hug.

"I'm going to go and find the others." James said.

"Ok." Lily said. James gave her a quick kiss and left the compartment. 

"So are you and James an item?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah, he asked me out on Christmas eve." Lily said with a slight smile.

"It wasn't really romantic though was it?" April said. Lily pulled April over to her side of the Compartment.

"How have you been?" Lily asked.

"A bit shaken but I'm feeling better. Did your parents have a funeral?" April asked. Lily nodded.

"I wasn't invited. It was a Muggle thing." Lily said, fighting the urge to cry. Her sister hadn't thought she should come. Sirius and James had taken her to their graves after but it wasn't the same.

"Oh, Lily." Jenny said. Jenny sat on the other side of Lily and hooked an arm through Lily's. They sat in silence for a few moments as the train started to move.

"I told James I loved him" Lily told her friends. She wanted to change the topic as thinking about her parents made her depressed and thinking of James made her happy.

"What?" April asked, slightly surprised.

"I told James I loved him" Lily repeated. "He was kinda looking after me for a bit and I told him I loved him"

"Do you love him?" Jenny asked. Lily nodded and smiled.

"Yeah." This brought a smile to all their faces and the girls started talking animatedly about boyfriends.

"We leave them for a few minutes and they're already planning on ditching us." Sirius said as he sat in a different compartment to the girls. All the boys had found somewhere else to sit but they could still hear the girls. 

"Well, at least Lily sounds happy again." Remus said.

"And April." James said. "I spoke to her on the station and she looked really depressed and sounded like it too." A group of Sixth year Hufflepuff girls walked by the compartment and stopped when they saw the Marauders sitting talking.

"Hi James" said the leader of the group of girls. "I heard you had a rough holiday, could I help by making you feel better?" She said with a smile. James frowned.

"No thanks, I have a girlfriend." He said. The girl frowned and turned to her friends.

"Who?" asked another girl. James tapped his nose saying it was his secret. The girls all walked off angrily.

"Oh, I bet it's that Lily Evans. She's always had James Potter following her and adoring her." Said the leader of the group. "She probably gave James a love spell or something in the third year."

Lily looked at the entrance of the compartment as the group of Sixth year girls walked past without looking in the compartment.

"What is that about?" Lily asked slightly stunned.

"I have no idea. But anyway. My brother is going to marry his girlfriend" Jenny said excitedly. 

"Oh that's brilliant" April said.

"Well he kinda had to because he got her pregnant, they found out a few days ago. She's a few weeks gone" Jenny told them.

"Really?" Lily said. "Imagine being pregnant before you marry. How wired would that be?" 

"Mum and dad are a bit pissed with him but they're going to help all they can." Jenny said. "I can't wait, I hope the baby is a girl"

"That would be cool, and that she comes to Hogwarts." April said. "I've decided I want to be a defence against the Dark arts teacher." Jenny looked at her confused.

"She's been brushing up on her knowledge all holiday. She blew up my bedroom door on Christmas eve." Lily said with a sad smile.

"Yeah, hey, do you remember that really weird guy who said he was a…um, what was it?"

"I think he said he was a dentist" Lily said. "Muggles have always been really strange. I prefer Witches and wizards."

"I should hope so Miss. Evans" said James coming into the Compartment. "Because if you didn't I'm afraid it might take a while to convince you that we are far more interesting,"

"And a lot sexier." Lily added with a cheeky smile. James grinned.

"Back to normal I see." He said.

"Not quite, nearly." Lily said taking his hand.

"You've done a good job with her James." April said. "Getting her to smile so quickly." Lily smiled shyly and shrugged.

"I am sitting right here you know" Lily said.

"Yeah, we know." Jenny said with a cheeky smile.

*    *    *    *

The news that James and Lily were an item spread through the school like wild fire. All the girls were suddenly giving Lily evil stares and looks while the boys congratulated James on his 'conquest'. James hexed a few boys who said that Lily was a conquest because she wasn't. Of course Lily never knew about him hexing these boys and what Lily didn't know couldn't hurt. James himself carried a large secret that could get him a hefty sentence if he was caught.

The holidays had changed quite a few of the people that knew Lily. April was no longer interested in keeping the social life and she was less interested in Sirius then she had been. She admitted that she loved him but after what had happened to Lily's parents she was hesitant about forming any new relationships.

"Hi, April, my darling." Sirius said putting his arms around April, one evening in the middle of January. April smiled and her reading slowed. "How are you?" Sirius said trying to get a word out of April

"Good." April said.

"Do you still love me?" Sirius asked.

"Yes." 

"Will you meet me in the astronomy tower for a not so secret Rendezvous?" Sirius asked.

"No."

"Why?" Sirius moaned. He was suffering from a real lack of attention from April. He did anything he could to get attention from April. He even tried to jinx her but couldn't bring himself round to do it.

"Because I've got to finish reading this book for Transfiguration." April said putting a hand on Sirius' face. Sirius frowned and turned to Lily in pretend anger.

"Ok April, get out of Lily's body." He said to Lily. James and Lily started in surprise as Sirius grabbed Lily.

"Padfoot!" James said slightly annoyed. They had been in the middle of quite an intimate discussion that made Lily feel quite light-headed and giggly when Sirius had grabbed Lily. Sirius stared into Lily's eyes.

"April, are you in there?" He said. Lily looked at him confused and pushed him away.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked in slight disgust.

"April has turned into you. She's studying and not even paying any attention to me." Sirius complained. He gave them a look that resembled a depressed looking King Charles spaniel. 

"That's not true, she talks about you all the time." Lily said sitting on James' lap again. James put his arms tightly around Lily's waist so she couldn't move very far. He didn't like being away from her any more. Going to lessons felt like agony as they had to stay in the seats they had chosen at the beginning of the year, when Lily and James had hated each other. How quickly things changed.

"She's just reading." Sirius said looking at April and waving a hand in her direction.

"She's just scared she'll lose you." Lily said. "My parent's death effected more then just me" Lily added quietly. Sirius gave Lily a sympathetic look then got up and went to April. He snatched the book away and put it on the table.

"Sirius." April said slightly annoyed. "I was reading that."

"Not anymore." Sirius said. He leaned over and picked April up in his arms and placed her over his shoulder.

"Sirius!" April said, she didn't sound angry but a hint of her old attitude started to show again. Sirius noticed this subtly change in her tone and grinned.

"I'm not letting you go until we get at least half an hour of privacy." Sirius said marching out of the Gryffindor Common room with April protesting and struggling to get down. Jenny walked into the common room as they left and watched amused. Lily was also watching quite bemused with Sirius' action to get his girlfriend back on kissing terms with him.

"I'm guessing they're going to get off with each other again?" Jenny said.

"Who knows?" Lily said like she had no idea but she knew that April and Sirius wouldn't be back for at least another hour. Remus came walking down the stairs from the boys dorm and perched himself on the edge of the chair that Lily and James were sitting on.

"Prongs, half an hour." He said. James frowned and glanced at the window. Lily looked as well. It was the night before the full moon and it looked absolutely amazing. The sky was clear and the windows were slightly steamed but Lily could still see the moon clearly.

"Ok, I'll get padfoot in a minute." James said. Lily looked back at her boyfriend and scowled.

"You're gong somewhere?" she asked.

"Um, yeah. Marauder business." James said. Lily nodded and got up to let James go about and do what he needed. She understood that James loved her and his friends and as much as she hated not being in the same room as her she would never come between James and his friends. James smiled gratefully and gave Lily a prolonged goodnight kiss. Lily knew that he wouldn't be back before Midnight as well. She didn't know how she knew but she just did.

"Thanks Lily." Remus said. "I'll meet you and Padfoot, you know where. I'll go and get Wormtail and the-." Remus looked at James.

"I know about the invisibility cloak" Lily said.

"So do I." Jenny told them. Remus frowned slightly but got up and left them and headed up the stairs to the boys dorm. 

"See ya Lily." James said. Lily gave him a smile and he left the common room. Lily sat back down and tucked her legs underneath her and gave a soft satisfied sigh. Jenny gave her a pleased smile.

"So what are you wearing to the ball?" Jenny asked. Lily looked at her slightly confused.

"That's another month away." Lily said.

"Yeah, so?" Jenny sad. 

"Have you got a date for it?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, the Ravenclaw prefect, Charles Kinnear asked me just now." Jenny said. Lily gave her a pleased smile.

"We haven't put the notices up yet." Lily told Jenny.

"Charles is a prefect though, he knows about it." Jenny said. Lily nodded,

"True." She muttered. A few moments later April came storming into the common room looking quite annoyed and angry.

"Lily, Jenny, can I talk to you in our dorm room?" April asked straining to keep her voice under control.

"As long as you don't jinx us." Jenny said cautiously. 

"I might jinx her" April said pointing at Lily, "but you're safe." Lily looked at her slightly alarmed and instinctively her hand moved to her wand. April grabbed Lily's wrist and pulled Lily after her as she went towards the dorm rooms.

"I think one of them is a werewolf." April said abruptly when she had locked the door behind Jenny, who casually strolled in after Lily and April.

"One of who?" Jenny asked.

"The Marauders, I think one of them is a werewolf" April repeated.

"Why? I mean, there's nothing strange about them or anything" Lily said.

"They're always going out on iMarauder business/i about the time of the full moon and they're never back until way after midnight. It only makes sense that one of them is a werewolf." April said.

"But then why do all four of them go?" Lily asked April. April started pacing the dorm room. She threw her hands in the air.

"I don't know, maybe all four of them are werewolves." April said.

"James is not a werewolf." Lily said defensively.

"How do you know?" April said. "He doesn't tell you everything about him. I know Sirius has lots of secrets from me."

"James would tell me if he was." Lily said, trying to sound confident in what she was saying but a tiny voice in the back of her head was telling her that James wasn't telling her anything. Every time Lily brought up the subject of Marauder business he would quickly change the topic.

"Yeah, whatever." April said.

"One of them could be you know." Jenny said. "I mean I've also noticed that they've been going missing for a few nights every month for quite a few years."

"I haven't noticed anything" Lily said.

"That's because you never paid any attention to them" Jenny said.

"I vaguely remember you saying that James was a big stuck up bastard a few months ago" April said looking at Lily.

"Things change" Lily said looking at the floor. She sat on her bed and pulled her knees towards her and hugged them tightly. She remembered when she got her letter for Hogwarts petunia suddenly becoming a lot meaner, her suddenly falling for James and how her life had changed since her parents death. Some things changed too quickly.

"Things do change" April said. Lily could see that April was thinking along the same sort of lines.

"I'm going for a walk" Lily said getting up. She shouldn't have thought about her parents. She could feel the memories itching to relive themselves. Lily picked her cloak up from her trunk and held it loosely in her hand.

"Where are you going?" Jenny asked eyeing the cloak.

"I don't know. I might go to the Quidditch pitch or I might go visit Hagrid. I don't know." Lily left the Dorm room and left the Gryffindor tower. 


	16. Saved by a Stag

"So, the grounds tonight? What do you say Prongs?" Sirius asked James as they watched Peter transform into a rat.

"Yeah, I think Moony is getting a bit tired of Hogsmeade. Same smells, same sights." James said.

"Same with hogwarts." The small grey rat that had been Peter scrambled across the frozen ground and ran up the snow covered bark of a slightly fidgety whomping willow. The whomping willow stopped moving and Sirius walked forwards.

"I'll wait here and guard." James said. Sirius nodded and took the invisibility cloak. 

"I'll put this in the usual place. Make sure there's no one around in about five minutes." Sirius told James as he disappeared down a small hole in the roots of the whomping willow. The small grey rat turned it's head towards James and followed Sirius. James sighed, he hated keeping this secret from Lily. He looked around the grounds to make sure no one was walking on the dark grounds. When he was sure there was no one about he began to transform into a magnificent looking stag. He shook his head as a stag and ran around a little. James, as Prongs, felt so much freer when in animal form. A few minutes later Wormtail gave a small squeak and Prongs turned to look. Wormtail ran up the trunk of the whomping willow and it froze again. Soon a large black dog came out and gave a happy bark

_Hello again, Padfoot._ Prongs thought.

_Long time no see._ came a reply. Prongs looked at Padfoot to see the dog give him a sort of grin. Prongs shook his head and walked a little way off as Padfoot was followed by a large beast, a werewolf, Moony. Moony gave a short howl and greeted Prongs like a friend. They started walking around the grounds. They headed to the forbidden forest where Padfoot and Moony playfully chased Wormtail. Prongs didn't join in the game. He normally would have but he had a strange uncomfortable feeling, like something was really wrong. They came to a small patch of forest that was a little distance away from Hagrid's hut. Padfoot was following an invisible trail in the frozen leaves at the edge of the forest and Moony was sitting on the snow staring lazily at the moon when a cold breeze blew over the snow caught Moony's attention. He started sniffing the air and his head shot to the left, away from Hagrid's hut. Prongs noticed this and stood up from his lying down position. Wormtail was resting in his antlers, he didn't really enjoy hanging around in the snow.

Moony let out a long howl and stood up. Padfoot came running over.

_There's someone on the grounds,_ came an urgent thought in Prongs' head. Moony started running towards the Quidditch pitch, closely followed by Prongs and Padfoot. Wormtail, who couldn't run as fast was still nestled in Prongs' antlers.

Lily wiped her eyes with her cloak and pulled it tightly around her. She had been sitting on the bleachers of the Quidditch pitch remembering her parents. She stared at her watch, her vision was blurred from the tears but she still couldn't see her watch face.

"Lumos." She said weakly. A light came out of the end of her wand. It was nearly midnight, she should get back to the castle and start her usual patrol. She stood up and made her way down to the pitch. Lily looked at the deserted stands when she was on the pitch and thought about how amazing it must feel to play quidditch in front of the entire school. She had never really been interested in Quidditch but now she wandered what it must be like. She left the pitch and walked through the snow trail she had made earlier to go back to the castle. The light breeze that accompanied the snow blew her hair behind her and her cloak flapped lazily. She pulled her cloak tighter around her and stared at where she was going. Her hand was clamped tightly on her wand in case there really was a werewolf as April had said. Lily had no idea what she might do if she saw a werewolf, they had incredibly good hearing and a very good sense of smell.

Suddenly there came an eerie howl that pierced the air like a knife. Lily stopped dead, her eyes wide. Was that a werewolf howl or just a wolf howl? Lily turned to where she thought the howl had come from and stared into the dark.

"Lumos." She said again. The small circle of light danced across the snow and then it caught the gleaming eyes of a large wolf like creature. Lily jumped and took a step back and nearly fell in the snow. A werewolf. April was right. Suddenly the Werewolf was knocked to the ground by a large black dog. The dog tackled the werewolf and tried to pin it to the ground. Lily saw a large beautiful stag continue to run. A small grey rat hopped off it's antlers and joined the Dog. Lily started running as the stag ran faster.

"Oh merlin, I'm going to die" Lily muttered to herself. The stag over took her and stopped right in front of her, in her path. Lily stared at the stag and into it's eyes. She didn't know how she knew but she knew she had to get on the stag's back. She looked behind her to see the werewolf now, nearly beating the large black dog. Lily quickly grabbed an antler and pulled herself over the stag's back and the stag ran towards the Quidditch changing rooms. They were there in a few seconds. Lily jumped off.

"Alohamora" she said urgently pointing her wand at the lock. The door unlocked and Lily opened it. She turned to see the stag looking into the distance where the dog and Werewolf were still fighting.

"Thank you." Lily whispered. The stag turned to her and then before her very eyes started to change shape. Lily let out a scream but found a hand clamped over her mouth. She closed her eyes and tried to think of a jinx.

"Lily, it's me." Came a comforting voice. Lily opened her eyes to see James standing in front of her with his hand pressed against her mouth. He slowly removed his hand and put a finger to her lips. "Follow me." He breathed. Lily followed James to the Gryffindor changing room and James opened a locker that had J. Potter on it.

"Why are you-"

"Shush, point your wand here." James said pointing at the lock. Lily looked at her wand to see that it was still lit. She pointed it at the locked and James quickly unlocked the lock and pulled out a broomstick. He shut the locker door gently and grabbed Lily's hand as he took her out of the changing rooms through a back entrance. He quickly mounted his broom and pulled her on in front of him. He put his arms around her and held the handle tightly. There was a loud bark and James and Lily looked at where the dog was lying on the floor and the werewolf running towards them. James kicked the ground hard and the broomstick shot up in the air. The two rushed through the air quickly and soon they were several meters above the ground. Lily held onto James' body as best she could. As soon as they were in the air James made the broomstick hover in the air.

"What are you doing out on the grounds?" James asked angrily, there was a hint of worry in his voice but Lily wasn't listening. She turned on the broom holding onto James tightly, trying not to fall off.

"April was right, one of you is a Werewolf." Lily said scared. She looked at James and saw him differently. He had just changed from a stag into her boyfriend. "Merlin, you're an animagus" James looked at Lily and nodded sadly.

"I didn't want you to know." James said. "Moony was scared you were going to find out. He's going to give himself hell when he finds out." Lily stared at James. Their nicknames, Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail and Prongs. Lily thought for a moment, Remus was Moony.

"Remus?" Lily asked, "He's the werewolf?" James nodded. Lily stared at the ground where the werewolf was pacing. The dog was limping over to the werewolf and the rat was no where to be seen. "But he's so kind and gentle. He could never be the werewolf." Lily said looking back into James' eyes. James looked at her sadly.

"He was bitten when he was really young. He's been through this hell every year while he's been in Hogwarts. You know the Whomping willow? Well that was put there to protect Moony's hiding place. The shrieking shack" James told Lily. 

"The Shrieking shack is haunted though."

"No, it's Moony." James said.

"Sirius and Peter? Are they animagi to?" Lily asked.

"Yes, Sirius is the dog and Peter is a rat but I'm not sure if you saw him."

"Take me back to the castle." Lily said. James looked like he wanted to explain more. "Now!" she screamed at him.

*    *    *    *

Lily stormed into the Gryffindor common room. There were only three people in the common room. Two fifth years who were trying to get their Astronomy charts correct and April. April was still up finishing off an essay that she hadn't gotten round to finishing. She still looked a little angry and looked up when Lily entered followed by James.

"Lily will you just listen to me." James said to her. He stopped by the sofa that April was sitting against. He was holding his broom in one hand. April and the two Fifth years turned to look at James when he said this

"No, you lied to me. You're not supposed to do that." Lily said spinning on her heel and facing James. "You're not supposed to keep secrets from me. It's like I don't even know you anymore James, did you expect me to be alright with your secret? Where you planning on telling me?" Lily asked, she looked quite hurt.

"No…yes" James said screwing up his eyes as he corrected himself. "I couldn't tell you because otherwise-"

"Why? I'm your girlfriend. I thought you loved me." Lily said crossing her arms.

"If you just let me explain." James said taking a few steps towards Lily and taking her hand. Lily jerked backwards, she was shaking from cold, anger and hurt.

"Stay away from me Potter." She said loudly. She turned and ran up the stairs to the dorm room. April watched the short exchange curiously. Did Lily just refer to James by his surname? This was not good.

"Shit." James muttered, he had obviously noticed as well.

"What happened?" April asked James as she got up slowly. James looked at the stairs to the girl's dorm. He walked over to it and when he went up a few steps the steps disappeared and turned into a stone slide. He fell to the floor in a pile

"James, what happened?" April said grabbing the back of his clothes as he was about to mount his broom.

"Nothing" James said.

"Sure." April said crossing her arms. "It looked a lot like nothing. Lily just gets angry with you all the time." James took another forlorn look up the slide from the girls dorm and turned to April.

"Tell her that I'm sorry." James said.

"I'm not saying anything for you." April said, "Unlike the other times you've pissed off Lily, this time you're dating. You've got to apologize yourself." April sounded very much like a mother scolding her teenage boy.

"What!" James said. He wasn't used to having a serious relationship, he had never had a relationship that didn't last more then a week.

"James" April said a lot quieter then she had been. "Is Sirius, Remus or Peter a werewolf?" she asked discretely so the fifth years couldn't hear them. James looked at April.

"Lily mentioned something about you saying that." James said. "If you must know it's Remus but don't tell anyone." James said, his voice was barely audible. "I've got to get back to Padfoot, he's trying to control Moony on his own." James threw his broomstick to April and headed out of the common room. "Look after that for me." James called back.


	17. Go and Apologise

At breakfast the next morning Lily and her friends were silent, as was the Marauders. There was an uncomfortable silence between all of them. Quite a lot of the Gryffindors had been woken up by Lily and James' very short row and so they all knew that they had fallen out. Everywhere Lily and James looked there were small groups of people huddled talking and staring at them. Each of these small groups contained at least one Gryffindor. James looked away from a group of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff girls and jabbed his sausage with his fork.

"I guess, this is all my fault" Remus said.

"No, it's Prongs' fault for not being honest with Lily." Sirius said. "Really James, I thought you'd know better then to keep a secret from the girl you love." He tutted. James could have killed him at that moment. It wasn't like Sirius wasn't keeping secrets from April.

"What exactly happened last night?" Remus asked.

"Lily was out by the Quidditch pitch and you caught her scent." James told Remus. "You ran towards her, Padfoot attacked you and I got Lily to safety." Remus went pale, he knew that it would be another two nights before his transformations stopped. He hated that he had gotten Lily and James' relationship in trouble.

"I'm really sorry" Remus said. "Does she know about me?"

"Yeah, she's alright about you, she also knows about the Marauders but not the whole story." James said.

"What!" Sirius shouted, "You told her?" He attracted the unwanted attention of several students, including Lily's.

"I had to." James said. Sirius glared at him. James understood why. They had all promised that they would never tell anyone their secret and James had broken it. James would be as angry as Sirius was if his best friend had told someone. Sirius stood up and launched himself across the table at James. He knocked James over and the two rolled on the floor. James tried to get control of Sirius' clenched fists but failed. Sirius punched James around the face. James clenched his teeth and kicked Sirius off. They both scrambled to their feet and drew out their wands. Lily and April both got to their feet.

"Is this a trick or for real?" muttered a sixth year Hufflepuff girl to her Gryffindor boyfriend.

"I don't know." He muttered back.

"Boys." April said stepping between Sirius and James. Lily was more reluctant to intervene though she knew she had to. "Come on, stop fighting, it's breakfast." She said. April looked at Lily for help when Sirius and James looked like they weren't listening. Lily sighed and took a deep breath. She walked to James and grabbed the back of his robes and dragged him out of the great hall. He followed reluctantly and kept his glare on Sirius. April was fussing over Sirius and he seemed a little flattered by the attention she was finally giving him. When Lily and James were in the entrance hall and away from the main hall Lily stopped and turned to face James.

"What was that about?" Lily asked James, she had her hands on her hips and waited expectantly for an answer.

"You" James said. He didn't look at Lily and stared at his wand.

"Me?" Lily asked slightly amazed, though she had guessed it was about her when Sirius had shouted. "What about me?" James stared at her wondering if he should tell her. She had told him last night that he was supposed to tell her the truth. He opened his mouth to tell her but then closed it and shook his head in a no.

"I won't tell you unless Sirius and Remus say it's ok. It probably is but I've already betrayed their trust in the last twenty four hours." James said. Lily couldn't believe what she was hearing, sure James had loyalty to his friends and she respected that, she had loyalties to her friends but she was James' girlfriend.

"What about me?" Lily asked him, "I'm your girlfriend and I discover you're an-" James put a hand over her mouth and told her to shut up as a few students stared at them.

"Don't say it out loud." He hissed at her. Lily pushed him away.

"Don't tell me to shut up." She said slightly annoyed. "I'll keep you secret, I'm not stupid."

"I noticed" James muttered under his breath.

"What?" Lily asked. James looked at Lily.

"Nothing darling." He said sarcastically, "Now if you excuse me I have some lessons to get to." He said imitating Lily's most common comment to him from their sixth year. Lily stared at him with her mouth slightly open in shock. The few students that had been watching her started talking and one was about to say something to Lily when Lily gave them a look that warned them not to say anything and the students hurried on their way before Lily started handing out detentions.

*    *    *    *

"The head pupils are pleased to inform the school that there will be a ball on the 14th of February in the Great Hall. There will be a live band and as much food as you can eat provided by the kitchens. It will be a formal ball so Dress gowns will be required. This event is for Fourth year upwards, though younger students may attend as dates. More information will be given closer to the day." April read off the notice board to Lily and Jenny. "The head pupils are pleased?" she said to herself. "It doesn't look like it." April looked at Lily who was angrily writing out the list of Ingredients for Veritaserum and how you make the potion. 

There was a lot of uneasy tension among the Seventh year Gryffindors. The slightest mention of James to Sirius or Lily would get them both angry and Lily would go to the library, mention Lily to James and he would storm off somewhere. Remus, April and Jenny were at a loss. Peter didn't seem to mind the rift in the two groups of friends and he spent a lot of time talking about it just loud enough for either one of Sirius, James or Lily to hear if they weren't with him.

"Shut up April" Lily said. Lily hated being angry with James and would be more then willing to make up with him if he approached her to say sorry that he had been a complete fool and would never keep anything from Lily again.

"So, I guess you're not going with anyone to the ball right now?" Jenny said softly, not wanting Lily to get angry again. Lily had just calmed down from an hour of ranting about her useless boyfriend.

"No, I don't want to go to that stupid ball anyway." Lily said.

"Now I know that's a lie." April said sitting down opposite Lily. "Now look me in the eye and say that," Lily looked into April's sparkling brown eyes. She couldn't say it but she noticed something in April's eyes that was never there before.

"Have you slept with Sirius?" Lily asked April. April looked at Lily in shock.

"How…how did you know?" April asked.

"It's in your eyes." Lily said. Jenny looked at April in surprise.

"You slept with Sirius?" Jenny asked.

"Yes" April said slightly uneasily, "He was upset about James telling Lily whatever he told her and because I wasn't paying much attention to him so the other night we sort of slept with each other."

"Where?" Jenny asked, "There's no where you can, you know, do it." Jenny said.

"Well, he took me to this weird room. It was filled with roses and it had a bed and there was soft romantic muggle music playing from somewhere." April said. She smiled and her eyes glittered slightly. Lily gave a quick smile.

"At least some of us are getting some." She said without thinking. April and Jenny looked at her curiously.

"What?" April asked.

"I just miss James." Lily said. "It's really hard not being with him."

"Then go and apologise, he's in his dorm room." Jenny said. "But he'll be coming down later for Quidditch practice, the next quidditch match is the Saturday after next, two weeks before the ball."

"I'm not going to apologise, he was the one who kept the secret from me. How does he expect us to make it work forever if he hides things from me?"

"Forever?" April said, "What do you mean by forever? Do you want to spend your life with him?" April looked at Lily. Lily looked away shyly.

"We've talked about it." Lily said, referring to her and James.

"But you're eighteen." Jenny said.

"Seventeen, my birthday is in a few months." Lily corrected.

"Still," Jenny said.

"Team get ready for Practice." James shouted as he climbed down the stairs. He made a beeline for the girls and Lily went quiet and continued with her work. "April do you still have my broom?" he asked. April jumped to her feet. She looked at Jenny and Jenny stood up as well and closed a few of her books.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to give it back after the…events of the past week" April took Jenny's hand and they both went to the dorm. James stood near the studying Lily in a very awkward silence. He desperately wanted to just be able to talk to her again and to be able to hold her. He didn't think he had done anything that wrong and if she'd give him the chance to explain why he had become an animagus and why Remus had been wandering the grounds then maybe he could get her talking again.

"Have you told Jenny and April?" James asked.

"No." Lily said not taking her eyes away from her work. "I said I'd keep your secret didn't I?" She glanced at her book and wrote down the last ingredient on her piece of parchment. James noticed her handwriting wasn't as neat as it normally was.

"Thanks." James said. Lily didn't say anything. She put her quill away and closed her book, she had finished her homework that wasn't due in until the next week. She picked everything up carefully and stood up. She faced James for a few seconds before going to her dorm to put her things away.


	18. Making an Effort

_Dear James,_

_It is nice to hear from you again. I am very sorry about what happened between you and Lily and I can't give you much advice on how to handle this situation. I have spoken to your mother and she suggests to simply sit Lily down and talk. I know this may be difficult but I also believe that it will be a good idea. I am pleased that you've finally given up on your boyish ways and are trying to make an effort. As for Sirius, I know you boys will work things out. Keep up with your school work and your mother or I will write soon_

Dad 

James screwed up the letter, sit and talk to Lily? She was too damn hard to force her to sit down. James wouldn't managed unless he performed a few spells and hexes and he didn't want to hurt her. James let his family owl return home and he sat on his bed thinking about what to do.

"Why are you going to your parents for help?" Peter asked James. He was the only one in the room with James and was watching James carefully.

"Because they're my parents and I value their advice." James said. Peter shrugged and went back to rummaging through his things looking for his Defence against the Dark arts Text book. James didn't know whether to tell Peter that he had seen Sirius transfigure it into the clock that lay on Peter's bedside table. James decided not to and lay down properly on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He had two relationships to repair, both would be hard to reconcile but James had to do it. Who would be easier to win over first? James thought. Lily was still actually quite proud and James didn't understand how her mind worked but Sirius on the other hand was James' oldest friend. James knew him perfectly, all he had to do was say that he, James, had been a right git and that he was sorry. James decided to do that and closed his eyes for a moment. The moment he closed his eyes he saw Lily's beautiful angelic face. Her innocent, knowledge hungry green eyes and her sweet nervous smile. James gave a sigh and Peter let out a few swear words as he hit his foot on his trunk.

_Why was his friend so hooked on a mudblood? T_hought Peter, sure Lily was a remarkably pretty girl but she was a muggle born witch. What did James see in her? The door was pushed open and Sirius came in followed by Remus.

"The Hogsmeade trip has been cancelled" Sirius said stressed. James opened his eyes and stared at Sirius.

"What?" James asked.

"There have been three attacks in Hogsmeade so Dumbledore has cancelled the Hogsmeade weekend."

"But we need to go into Hogsmeade that weekend." James said.

"No, the girl's need to go into Hogsmeade," Remus told them.

"They need to restock on their make up and get their dress robes re-fitted" Sirius said prancing around like an excited girl. James smirked.

"Yeah, that's true. I've already got all my stuff ready but I'm not sure I'll be going" James said, his smirk going. Sirius looked at him curiously.

"Why?" Sirius asked. Apparently Sirius was talking to him again.

"You remember a certain pissed off girlfriend?" James asked Sirius.

"Oh yeah" Sirius said frowning.

"Are you two speaking again?" Remus asked.

"I don't know." James said.

"Only if he says he was a git."

"I was a git"

"And that he was an idiot and very sorry" Sirius said

"I'm an idiot and I'm very sorry." James said. Sirius grinned.

"Ok, now to get that Girlfriend of yours back." Sirius said.

"What are you planning?" James said sitting up and looking at Sirius seriously.

"Just a few bangs, an invisibility cloak and-"

"Sirius, Lily is a girl and a respectable Gryffindor, not a Slytherin whore" Remus said, reminding Sirius that Lily was a human.

"Oh yeah." Sirius said. "Well it's obvious isn't it?" James and Remus looked at Sirius confused. Peter looked over as well but was mainly concentrating on finding his text book. Grout would kill him if he didn't have his homework done.

"Is it? Because I sure as hell don't see anyway of getting Lily to talk to me." James said.

"Well, who said you have to talk to Lily?" Sirius said. James looked at his friend intrigued.

"Go on," James said.

"Who knows Lily better then anyone in the world, better then you." Sirius asked nodding towards James. James looked at Sirius confused. Remus looked like he'd just been hit round the head by the idea.

"April." Remus said. "Talk to April and try and find out the best way of talking to Lily again. That's brilliant Padfoot" Sirius grinned.

"Well they are like sisters." Sirius said. James could have kissed Sirius, had he been a girl James would have kissed him.

*    *    *    *

"Oh no, here he comes again." Lily said. April rolled her eyes. The old Lily was starting to emerge again. April had just been ranting to Lily about the injustices of cancelling a trip to Hogsmeade. 

"Lily just try and act Civil." April said. Jenny had wandered off to go and _tutor_ her date to the ball so it was just April and Lily. James approached them and sat down.

"Good day ladies." He said. He didn't look at Lily as he said this and turned his attention to April. "April I need to ask you a few questions so could I maybe meet you at the prefect common room entrance in say, about ten minutes?" James said. April looked slightly surprised at this request.

"I am dating your best friend" April said.

"I know that and I don't want to see you because of anything like that. I need to ask you a few questions about a project the Marauders and I are working on." James said. April looked even more confused but nodded.

"Sure" She said. James gave her a smile and got up to leave.

"Why did you agree to meet him?" Lily snapped at April.

"He wants to ask questions." April said. Lily gave her a cold look. "You don't have to be jealous or anything" Lily looked at April.

"I'm having a bath." Lily said getting up and going to get her things.

Ten minutes later James strolled up to the prefect common room entrance and saw April standing there examining the tapestry that protected it.

"April." James said. April didn't turn to look at him at first, she touched the tapestry then looked satisfied with whatever she was looking at and turned to James.

"Make it quick because I think Lily is really jealous." April said. James frowned. "What do you need my help with."

"Lily." James said. 

"Lily?" April asked, "What are you going to do? If it's a Marauder plan it's going to be a trick."

"Actually no trick" James said. He looked around. "Lilium" The tapestry moved aside and a door opened. "Come in" James said. He led April into the common room.

"I think I should tell you that Lily's having a bath but I don't know if she's using the head's bathroom."

"That's alright, I just need to ask a few quick questions." James said. He sat down on a chair and April sat on the sofa. The Prefects Common room was decorated in all the house colours and the effect was actually quite regal.

"Ok, what are they?" April asked.

"You've known Lily since like the first day in Hogwarts and you're her closest friend and you know everything about her, right?" James asked.

"Almost everything" April said, "Why?"

"Well I need advice on how to get her back" James said. April looked at James quite impressed.

"Well, you are trying aren't you?" April asked.

"Just tell me." James said.

"Ok, ok. Well Lily wants you to apologise for lying to her or keeping secrets from her, I can't remember which, maybe both. She's really annoyed with you for that and she's also been bitching about your bad points, namely the hexing people in the corridors. She's heard about when you hexed people for calling her a conquest. She's really flattered by it but she doesn't want you hexing people because she doesn't want you to lose your head boy position." April told James. "She was also saying something about marriage yesterday but I didn't fully understand it."

"Oh, we've talked about what we're going to do after Hogwarts. I suggested marriage and she seemed quite pleased about it." James told April.

"You want to marry her?" April asked,

"Of course, I want to spend the rest of my life with her and I want her to have my children." James said so sincerely it nearly made April cry.

"Oh, I wish Sirius was a bit more like that." April said emotionally. "But he's great as he is." James could have laughed at April.

"Ok, well I'll help you if you want, I can get Jenny in on it as well and we'll work on Lily. I'll get her to go to the Quidditch match and you just make sure you win." April said.

"But that's two weeks away." James said. "I can't wait that long."

"You're going to have to, our Lily is a very complex girl. You win the match and she'll start talking to you again and go to the ball. I know she's also telling us that she won't go to the ball" April said.

"Thank you so much. You are the best" James said giving April a hug.

"No problem." April said happily


	19. The Quidditch Match

"Come on Lily, it would mean so much to Jenny if you went to go watch the Quidditch match." April said the morning of the quidditch match. Lily scowled,

"But-"

"Stuff James come on. For Jenny." April said.

"Ok." Lily said, complying with April's request. April grinned and took Lily's hand and pulled her out of the bed. Lily had been working quite hard recently, the work load after the holidays was increasing and she could just keep up with it. She didn't know how anyone else managed to get all their work done. Lily had just pulled a turtle neck jumper over her head when Jenny came in muttering about finding a piece of paper. Jenny was in her red and Gold Quidditch robes and Lily again felt a slight pride for her friend.

"What are you looking for?" April asked as she pulled her cloak on over her clothes.

"James has decided that we're going to change positions at the last minute and the piece of paper I'm looking for has his tactics on it." Jenny said. She quickly went through all her things.

"But you don't know how to play chaser." Lily said. Jenny looked at Lily briefly before searching her bag.

"I do. James and I practice each other's positions. He loves catching the snitch. I don't mind being chaser either, I like a bit of action in a quidditch match. Being a seeker can be a bit boring sometimes. You just sit there and look for a tiny golden ball." Jenny explained. Lily took it all in but didn't completely register it all in her head. She wasn't really that keen on Quidditch. Jenny let out a triumphant shout and sat on her bed scanning a piece of parchment. Lily glanced at it and saw several dots and crosses zooming across the page followed by lines and rough sketching. To Lily it looked like a load of scribbles but it obviously meant something to Jenny because a few minutes later she put it down and bid goodbye to April and Lily.

"James has never been seeker in a match before." April said. Lily wouldn't know, she never went to half the quidditch matches.

"He's probably wanting to show off." Lily said. "You know how he's like." Lily picked her cloak up from the end of her bed and swung it around and fastened it around her tightly. There was still quite a lot of snow around and as soon as Lily stepped outside she knew she would get cold. She was just grateful that the box she sat in was slightly warm.

As they made their way down to the Quidditch pitch April and Lily walked closely together, trying to retain some warmth between them. The rest of Hogwarts were talking excitedly and making vivid hand movements in the air.

"I really don't see what all the fuss is about." Lily said as she sat in a box with a few teachers. Lily, as head girl was allowed to sit in a box that had a good view of the quidditch pitch, occasionally she took a friend up, namely April, and they would watch it together.

"It's great. All the danger and the speed and don't tell me that when you don't see James Playing quidditch you don't get weak at the knees." April said. Lily couldn't deny it. James always looked his best when on a broom. Lily gave a small smile and the teams walked out on the pitch. Lily could see James talking to Jenny quite quickly. Sirius was throwing his bat in the air casually and the other members of the team were just mounting their brooms. 

"And today's match is Gryffindor against Slytherin." Said the commentator, a Hufflepuff girl named Shona Wilkins. "This is going to be an interesting match as the winner will go on to play Ravenclaw, the current leaders. And the mount their brooms and fly into the air." Shona looked at the Gryffindor team as Jenny took James' normal place and James hovered in the air high above everyone else. "It appears that there has been some change in the Gryffindor team with Captain James Potter swapping positions with Jenny Chang." There was a loud applause from the crowds for some reason and Lily gave a light applause as she watched James giving the crowd a wave. 

"And the balls have been set free" Shona said. "Chang catches the Quaffle and passes to second year student Nymphadora Tonks. She speeds down the pitch- oh- she has a head on collision with Benson." Benson tackled the chaser and got possession of the Quaffle. "Jeremy hits a Bludger and- Watch out James" Shona squealed. Lily turned, not able to look as a beater in green robes hit a speeding black ball towards James. James did a quick roll and Sirius was quickly behind him and aimed the bludger at Benson. The bludger cut through the cold air and hit Benson on the back.

"Nice one Black, thank god you're ok James" Shona said. 

"Wilkins!" McGonagall said. Lily turned to Shona and felt like cursing her. Lily knew that almost every other girl in the school fancied James but she couldn't help feeling angry or jealous every time their opinions were voice out loud. "Harper catches the quaffle from under Benson and passes it to Tonks. Tonks quickly passes it to Chang and Chang Scores!" cheers erupted from all around the stadium except the Slytherin end. The Slytherins were boo-ing and hissing. Jenny flew past and gave Lily and April a happy grin before going into a dive and catching the quaffle again as a Slytherin Chaser dropped it. Lily watched the game nervously. The Slytherins seemed intent on trying to knock James off his broom so instead of trying to stop the Chasers from scoring the Slytherin beaters aimed every bludger they could hit towards James. April put a comforting arm around Lily when she saw how it was effecting her. April didn't really worry about Sirius, she had seen enough matches to know that Sirius could handle himself.

"Slytherin score, the teams are now tied at a hundred all." Shona said. 

"When is this match going to end?" Lily asked April. She watched as James sped around the pitch on his broom. Lily had noticed he tried to avoid the box Lily was sitting in. She felt slightly glad that she had come but felt slightly annoyed at the same time. Lily was also getting annoyed at Shona. Shona had spent the whole match praising James and even someone as thick as a Slytherin could see she really liked James.  James suddenly went into a dive at the same time as the Slytherin Seeker.

"It looks like the Seekers have found the snitch." Shona shouted. James was inches ahead of the Slytherin seeker and had his hand stretched out in front of him. The seekers both went into a straight line and zoomed across the surface of the snow. There were trails in the snow where the air disturbed it. They suddenly shot up in a directly vertical line. Lily found herself on her feet with April and half of the school.

"Come on Gryffindor!" April screamed. The seekers began to level out and followed the snitch around the stadium. Lily stared at the seekers and saw a small golden ball zooming towards her box followed closely by James. 

"Come on James!" Lily found herself shouting. She saw James' face twisted in concentration. As the two seekers passed Lily and April were blown into their seats.

"Whoa!" April said slightly dazed. Lily got up again and looked for James. James had heard Lily and his broom suddenly shot forwards in a burst of speed like it felt James' emotions skyrocket. The stadium erupted in cheers as James held his arm up triumphantly to display the tiny golden ball that he had caught.

"Gryffindor win! I knew James could do it." Shona said.

"Are you in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff?" Lily asked annoyed. Shona looked at Lily surprised.

"Hufflepuff" she said after she had charmed her voice to be at normal level.

"Then stop praising my boyfriend and support your own team." Lily snapped. Shona gave Lily a disgruntled look and crossed her arms. Lily turned to look at James just as he got hit by two bludgers, one hit him in the stomach and the other on his shoulder. He fell off his broom and just caught the handle with his free hand. He dangled off the broom wincing in pain. The hand he was using was on the side that got hit by the bludger.

"James!" Lily gasped as she turned and ran down the steps of the box to the pitch. James tried to hold on but he could feel and hear his bones pulling apart at the strain of trying to keep hold of his broom. He was sure his shoulder was dislocated. He was starting to lose his grip and then he let go, unable to hold on any longer. Jenny and Sirius zoomed towards him to try and catch him in the air but they both missed and James fell straight into the snow from twenty feet.

"James!" Lily shouted as she ran out onto the pitch. The Gryffindor team had landed around James and seeing if he was ok. Above them Madame Hooch was scolding the Slytherin beaters. James was barely awake and he sat up groggily. His stomach was pounding and his shoulder was on fire. Lily threw herself at the floor and gave James a tight hug. James let out a hiss of pain and she let go.

"Are you ok?" Lily asked worriedly. James gave her a smile and nodded.

"Yeah." He said, trying not to sound as if he was in too much pain.

"Come on, we've got to get him to the hospital wing." Sirius said. He gave his broom to Jenny and helped James up. James' head swam as he stood up. He staggered forwards and fell into Lily. Lily held him upright and looked at him worriedly. April said to make sure he was at the quidditch match and everything would be fine. It definitely looked like it to James. James limped back up to the castle, assisted by Lily and Sirius. The whole school seemed to want to help them but Lily had her wand out and so the school was too scared to go near her.


	20. The Party isn't over

"It's just a few dislocated bones. If you just stay still Potter" Madam Pomfrey said as she got her wand out. James sat on the bed and watched carefully. Lily was standing next to him anxiously holding his good hand. Sirius had taken the snitch back down to the pitch to put it away. Madam Pomfrey flicked her wand and then put it away.

"Ok, all done." She said.

"Are you sure?" Lily asked anxiously, "He's not in pain anymore is he?"

"Oh, he's still in pain but from a few bruises but those will heal on their own after a few days." Madam Pomfrey said smiling at the girl's worry. She disappeared and James moved his arm to see if it was working.

"She is good." He said smirking. Lily hugged him tightly and James put his arms around her. "It's alright." He said to her.

"If I could I would stop you from playing Quidditch, it's a really dangerous game." Lily said.

"But you enjoyed it?" James said grinning. Lily smiled.

"It was fun." She said. James gave her a soft and gentle kiss on the lips, which Lily happily returned. She had missed James' kisses so much.

"Good." James said. They kissed again but more passionately this time. After a few minutes Madam Pomfrey came out of her office and ushered them out. He held her hand tightly and they left the hospital wing. Quite a few girls were crowded around the hospital wing door trying to see if James was alright. He walked out of the hospital wing staring happily at Lily and ignoring all the other girls. They looked at Lily very annoyed and a few swore they'd make her life hell but Lily knew they wouldn't dare. She was head girl after all and she could make their lives hell as long as she was in school. As soon as they were in the Gryffindor Common room they were showered by confetti. James beamed but Lily frowned slightly.

"How many times do I have to tell-"

"Shut up Lily." April said laughing. "It's a party, we've won a match. Get used to it. It is our last year after all." Lily nodded but still felt slightly annoyed that the Gryffindors were having an unauthorised party. James pulled Lily through the crowds of Gryffindors. He received pats on the back and many people gave him words of admiration. Sirius suddenly appeared in front of them. He held two bottles in front of them.

"For the Head students" He said passing both Lily and James a bottle of butterbeer each. Lily took one and looked at James.

"Relax." James said. "Stop being so…uptight." 

"I'm not uptight." Lily said, taking a swig of her butterbeer.

"Prove it." James said moving nearer to Lily. She looked at him and smiled.

"As much as I want you all for myself I think you have hundreds of adoring fans, Potter" Lily said.

*    *    *    *

With the help of James, Remus, April and Jenny, Lily managed to break up the party well after midnight. Sirius did every thing to keep the party going but Remus transfigured him into a rock to shut him up for a few moments.

"Remus!" April said picking up the Sirius Rock. "Turn him back."

"Once the party's over." Remus said. 

"Ok BED" James shouted over the younger Gryffindors. There was a moan of protest but the five students managed to usher everyone away. When the Common room was empty they could see the true mess that they had made. 

"Oh god." Lily said collapsing into the sofa that James was sitting on. James pulled her closer to him and nuzzled her neck.

"Oh god they really are nearly as bad as April and Sirius." Jenny said turning away.

"Remus, turn Sirius back" April said to Remus. He said the counter spell and Sirius appeared in place of a rock.

"Ok, so who's up for another-" Sirius looked around. "Where is everyone?" He asked

"Party is over," Remus said. Sirius spotted Lily and James on the sofa and grinned.

"Not for them." He said nodding to Lily and James.

"I think we should go to bed." April said quietly.

"Of course, April why don't you come to my bed?" Sirius asked her cheekily. Remus watched April's normally flawless face turn red. April didn't blush easily.

"Um…" April started, she tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, "I…"

"I'll kick Peter and Remus out for the night." Sirius said.

"No, I'm really tired." April said. Sirius looked slightly annoyed but April added in a whisper, "tomorrow" Sirius's face lit up and he spun on his heel and ran around the room cheering.

"Well I'm going to bed, playing Chaser is exhausting." Jenny said.

"You did really well." James managed to say before he pulled Lily into another passionate kiss. Jenny smiled tiredly and pulled April after her. April didn't protest and put her head on Jenny's shoulder as they walked up the stairs.

"Hey, Prongs, you coming?" Sirius asked as he and Remus headed to their own dorms.

"No." James said. Lily grinned and kissed his cheek.

"He's staying with me." Lily said.

"Forever and ever." James said grinning back. Remus smiled, he felt very happy for James and Lily. He was well aware of how dark the world was getting, deaths every other day and people under various curses, Lily and James were lucky to have found each other. He could have said the same for April and Sirius but it had always been obvious they would get together eventually. Remus was always careful not to have a relationship that lasted too long because he was scared of what people might say if they found out he was a werewolf. Sirius shook his head and turned to go up the stairs. 

Soon Lily and James were the only ones in the common room though they hadn't noticed. After a while Lily pulled away from James breathlessly. She was slightly red in the face and it felt like the temperature had gone up.

"Lily?" James asked. He looked slightly dishevelled. His hair was all over the place and his glasses were slightly wonky on his nose.

"Let me catch me breath." Lily said breathlessly. James nodded and pulled her on him and let her lie on him while she steadied her breathing. James closed his eyes and pressed his face against Lily's hair. It smelt so good, Lily smelt so good. Lily turned and put a hand on James' chest and played with the material on James' clothes. He had changed during the party and he looked too good.

"James." Lily said after a few moments of amazingly comfortable quiet.

"hm…" James said. 

"How long have you been an…" Lily glanced around the room quickly. "How long have you been an animagi?" James opened his eyes and looked at Lily. She was looking up at him waiting for an answer.

"A few years now," James said. 

"Why did you become Animagi?" Lily asked. She had gone back to playing with the small bit of his shirt again.

"Well, to make a very long story short when we found out Remus was a werewolf we didn't like the idea of him experiencing the transformations on his own. Sirius and I had the idea of becoming Animagi and keep him company during his transformations. It took a while to get Peter to agree but he did in the end and we started trying to learn to be animagi. When we did become Animagi we were able to accompany Remus on his transformations and he became a lot calmer." James said recalling the whole process of becoming animagi.

"And you're not registered?" Lily asked.

"No, not even Dumbledore knows. You're the only person outside our group that knows. Sirius got really angry the night after I told you because we promised we wouldn't tell anyone." James said. Lily nodded and put her arm over James' chest.

"Well, I won't tell anyone. Tell Sirius your secret is safe with me." Lily said. "Though I suggest he tell April. She gets more annoyed then I do when something is kept from her." Lily said. She felt so comfortable being with James. She could feel all his muscles under his clothes and though she tried not to think about it she just felt like tearing his clothes off and exploring more of his body then just his mouth. James felt the same way about Lily and was keeping his hormones in check. He decided there and then that he was going to ask Lily to marry him before the school year was out. When he had no idea but he couldn't imagine a life with out Lily, he didn't want to imagine a life without Lily. He wrapped his arms around her and made sure she was comfortable and soon they fell asleep on the sofa.

*    *    *    *

"Where's Lily?" April asked looking at Lily's empty bed. It was nearly ten in the morning and she had a mountain of homework to do. Jenny rubbed her eyes and pulled the duvet over her head.

"Have you had a look in the common room?" she mumbled. April thought that would be a good idea and glanced at the other two beds in their room. Their occupants still fast asleep. April felt completely awake and felt like doing anything but homework. She hummed to herself as she walked down the stairs from the girls dorm and saw Lily sitting on the sofa reading a book. James, Sirius and Peter were in the corner already hard at work with their homework.

"Stupid Potions homework!" Sirius said crushing his quill then immediately regretting it. April smiled and went to Lily.

"Nice night?" April said happily into Lily's ear. Lily was caught by surprised and nearly jumped off the sofa.

"April!" Lily said breathing hard. April grinned and jumped over arm of the sofa and landed next to Lily.

"What you reading?" She asked Lily.

"A Muggle book. Called Jane Eyre." Lily said. April looked at her slightly surprised and took the book from Lily. April read the back of the book and gave it to Lily.

"It sounds boring." She said.

"You don't read." Lily said.

"I so do." April snapped back.

"Yeah, magazines." Lily said with a smile. April grinned.

"Told you I read." April said. "Why aren't you doing homework?" 

"Done it all." Lily said returning to her book.

"Oo, can I borrow it." April asked. Lily gave her a suspicious look.

"When you've finished." Lily said smirking. "Other wise you'll copy my work." April's smile disappeared.

"Would I ever do that?" April asked.

"You did it all through every year so far." Lily said cocking her head to the side. April sighed.

"Fine but if I need help will you help me?" April asked.

"Of course." Lily said. "Provided it isn't to do with Muggles because you should know enough about them already" April rolled her eyes.

"I don't take Muggle Studies anymore."

"Good." Lily said. She went back to her book and April realised that she wouldn't be able to get through to Lily for a while so she went back up to the dorm where one of their other room mates was just creeping out of bed. April picked up her bag and lugged it down the stairs.


	21. The Ball

A/N:- Hi sorry if I don't follow some of your requests but I have a general direction for this story and I know where I'm going and exactly what I'm going to do but please don't be angry with me if I don't do what you want. I love this chapter and I think Sirius is very sweet in it.

James checked his hair again. He had used an enormous amount of magic to keep it neat and he was quite pleased with the effect. He checked his dress robes again. He wanted to be perfect for Lily. They were opening the ball after all. He looked over to Sirius who was staring at a group of girls.

"Padfoot, what's the time?" James asked. Sirius shrugged and got up.

"I don't know but if April doesn't get down soon I'm going to the ball with someone else." Sirius said.

"You are an unfaithful boyfriend" came April's harsh voice from behind, "You know that?" April was wearing a lovely light blue set of dress robes and her blonde hair had been lightened, by magic, and was completely straight and fell down her back gracefully. Jenny stood next to April, Jenny wore some dark red robes that looked very good against her Asian face and complexion. Sirius grinned at April and gave her a kiss. When he came away a smile was plastered on April's face.

"Come on." Sirius said grabbing April's hand.

"Whoa" James said stopping them from leaving, "Where's Lily?" James asked.

"Oh, you are going to love her look. She is just so amazing tonight." April said looking at Jenny.

"Oh yeah. I can't believe she got that dress robe…" April, Jenny and Sirius wandered off and James didn't catch the end of their conversation. His eyes had been caught by a beautiful girl coming down the stairs from the girl's dorm. She had dark forest green dress robes, which made her green eyes look brighter then they had ever looked. Her hair was up in a loose bun with a few strands of hair hanging out. It didn't look tacky as it should have looked but made her looked even better, especially to James. Two locks of red hair framed her face and she smiled nervously at James. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ears.

"Hi James." Lily said to him. James was breathing quickly and he could feel his heart beating faster. He bit his lip and had to try harder then ever to try and keep his hormones under control but it was getting more difficult. He saw Lily's eyes flick down and she smiled. She looked at James in the eyes and then put a hand up and adjusted a bit of his hair.

"That's better." She said. She looked at James waiting for him to say something. Soon she frowned and started to get worried about him. "Are you ok?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah." James said shaking his head as he came back to his senses. "Fuck, you look so beautiful." Lily grinned again and kissed the corner of James' mouth. James tried to catch her mouth but she moved away just in time. She had found that by giving him a little, like kissing the corner of his mouth, then moving away always kept him wanting more. More she was willing to give but she felt it was a bit too early in their relationship.

"All this, just for you," she said indicating at herself. "You look handsome yourself, Potter." She said. James smiled and took her hand. "Of course you would look better if you were wearing your Quidditch robes and was flying around on a broom and kicking Ravenclaws ass." James looked at her slightly surprised. Lily never showed any emotion for Quidditch and she hated the fact that James could get hurt at any moment while playing or practicing Quidditch.

"Command and it shall be done." James said. He kissed the top of Lily's head and she grinned and stepped out of the portrait hole.

"You look very nice today Lily." Said the Fat lady. Lily smiled and inclined her head.

"Thank you, so do you." Lily said to the portrait. The Fat Lady smiled at her and James and Lily headed down to the great hall. She felt slightly uncomfortable with the stares she was getting from many of the boys of the school. She hadn't made herself beautiful for anyone but James. She felt her stomach doing flips in her stomach. This was going to be their first proper public appearance as a couple. Of course everyone knew they were a couple but for some reason it didn't click with some people and people still made advances on James and Lily. Lily hoped that this would put an end to it. She just wanted to be with James with no one interrupting their conversation every few minutes while in the great hall. All the Gryffindors knew the head students were off limits, having seen them kissing a lot in the common room.

"Now that the Head students are here, we can properly open the ball." Dumbledore said to the students who were gathered in the Great Hall. There were cherubs flying above the heads of the students, occasionally throwing confetti over the students. There were flowers and heart shaped decorations everywhere. Lily felt a surge of pride for the Prefects, they had spent many hours during the night getting it all ready.

"I would like to welcome to the school, the Hobgoblins, who will be providing our entertainment for today" Dumbledore said pointing at a stage that had been erected where the teachers' table usually was. There was a cheer and a small band walked onto the stage. They struck up a slow song, perfect to get the couples dancing.

"Lily, James, you take it from here." Dumbledore said. James gave Dumbledore a salute and put his arms around Lily.

Dumbledore watched as the two head students were joined by other couples. As he had predicted, with a little push and shove in the right direction the two did get together. He had noticed the spark between Potter and Evans two years ago, just after their OWL exams. He had hoped that they would find each other during the sixth year but when that had failed he decided there was only one thing. He wouldn't have normally tried to pair up his students but he felt that without at least a little interference Lily and James' relationship would have never had the chance to blossom. Dumbledore smiled to himself as he sat in a chair at the temporary teachers' table. McGonagall leaned towards him.

"You were right about those two." She said quietly as Lily laughed at something that James had said and put her head on his shoulder. 

"They will be needing each other in the next few years." Dumbledore said, "Someone had to do something." Dumbledore watched as Mr. Black twirled Miss. Marsden around and nearly caused himself to crash into the food table.

*    *    *    *

"Well done Lily!" said a student in the sixth year. Lily grinned. Everyone had been complimenting her and James on the ball. Lily stood near the stage that the Hobgoblins were performing on and fanned herself with her hand. She was finding James almost irresistible tonight. She didn't know what it was but tonight he had extra sex appeal. It was worrying Lily slightly in a good way, if that was possible.

"Lily!" April said happily. She ran over to Lily and caught Jenny on the way to her and they stopped at Lily.

"How's the ball?" Lily asked

"Charles is amazing" Jenny said, her eyes sparkling.

"Yeah, Sirius is great. He's so sweet. Where's James?" April asked Lily.

"He's gone to get me a drink." Lily said. She glanced across the hall and saw James talking to Peter. Peter didn't look interested in what he was saying. Lily felt her heart start beating faster as soon as she saw James.

"Oh shit." She thought closing her eyes and looking away.

"Excuse me?" April said. Lily looked at her.

"What?"

"Why are you swearing?" Jenny asked. Lily bit her lip slightly.

"Tell us." April said taking Lily's hands. Lily frowned and nodded.

"Well, this may seem really stupid but I'm finding it really difficult to-" Lily didn't know how to word the rest of her thoughts.

"Difficult to what?" April asked, she looked a little overexcited. Lily tried another way of explaining.

"Um…well you know my thoughts on sleeping before marriage, particularly when we're at school and stuff like that. How I don't really think it's very sensible and a bit irresponsible and-"

"Yeah, we know." Jenny said. Lily tried to stop herself looking at James.

"Well, I'm having difficultly controlling myself in front of James and it's worrying me slightly." Lily said. April and Jenny grinned identical grins, which freaked Lily out slightly.

"Oh my god Lily!" April screamed. Both the girls hugged Lily. Lily started slightly.

"What-" Lily started confused.

"You want to sleep with him?" April asked. Lily nodded. "Oh, I'm so proud of you." Lily looked at April confused. Jenny looked at April.

"Proud?" Jenny asked, "don't you mean pleased?"

"No, proud. Don't you get it?" April asked Jenny.

"No." 

"Lily wants to sleep with James, that means, as it's Lily, that love has moved on more from just a bunch of chemicals to a proper feeling." April said.

"Please speak English, or Chinese but I think English will be easier." Jenny said. Jenny was smart but she didn't fully understand science, particularly as April had read all this information in a muggle magazine.

"You'll see" April said simply. 

"Ladies," came James' smooth voice. Lily felt her heart speeding up again and looked at April slightly nervously. She was scared of this new emotion in her. She'd never felt it before and because she wasn't in total control of herself she hated it but she liked it at the same time. She loved and hated that James could do this to her.

"Don't worry." April whispered into her ear. "Just let it happen." Lily looked at April, that wasn't encouraging advice.

"Lily, your drink." James said giving her a small cup of punch.

"Thanks." Lily said. She started fanning herself with her free hand again as she took a sip from her drink.

"I'm going back to Charles. April rudely pulled me away from him." Jenny said smiling.

"Go you dog." April said grinning. James laughed and went to Lily's side. Lily felt her body shaking with excitement.

"Where's Sirius?" James asked. April nodded towards the food table where Sirius was just climbing out from underneath it.

"He's got a plan." April said. All Lily's emotions drained from her body as she heard this.

"What! No he can't!" She said. Nothing was going to ruin her ball.

"I tried to talk him out of it, honest but- " April started but Lily started for the table but as she took three steps it exploded. There were several screams of surprise and the music stopped. Lily stared as what should have been fragments of wood, glass and food were in fact lots of small red hearts. They suddenly zoomed into the middle of the room and started to form words. Lily, James and April watched curiously. Sirius was nowhere to be seen until a few minutes later surprised April by poking her sides.

"Hi lovely." He said. He gave her a quick kiss then looked at the red hearts. "Watch." He said. April watched the tiny red hearts curiously. They turned and the words they seemed to form became clearer to April. When she saw them she stared wide eyed and happy and absolutely amazed

**I LOVE YOU APRIL MARSDEN** it said. April's mouth dropped open as people turned to look at her.

"I…what…I-" April was at a complete loss for words. True, she loved Sirius but she didn't know he loved her back. She was speechless. Lily turned to Sirius and April. James' arm was draped around her shoulders.

"Trust Sirius to do everything in style." James said. He turned to the band. "Do you mind carrying on?" he asked. The drummer nodded and started a beat. Everyone looked away and started chatting and dancing again.

"I love you April." Sirius whispered to her. April grinned and turned to give him a deep and passionate kiss.

"Oh I'm so proud." Lily said copying April. April gave her a look when she had finished her kiss with Sirius and Lily started laughing. "That's what you said to me." 

"I know. Now go do you thing." April said waving a dismissive hand and going back to kissing Sirius.


	22. Inhibitum Pregnatus

A/N:- Hi y'all. Jessie Flower, I think you'll like the chapter after this one, I've written about half of it. It will finally put an end to your thing about Remus and Jenny : D 

Lily and James sat outside on a small stone bench, which Dumbledore had put in a small alcove of conjured trees. The area just outside the main doors of the castle was like a small enchanted forest. There were tiny fairies holding tiny lanterns that lit up the way through to the various alcoves. If one was in use they'd block it off until the couple left. The two weren't exactly sitting on the bench but more lying on the bench with Lily on top staring at the sky. Lily stared at the bright stars in the sky and quietly wondered to herself how long it would take to reach the nearest one. But her mind came back to James and her heart started beating quickly again she felt that now familiar feeling. She had had the feeling all night and it was nearly reaching it's peak. 

"What are you thinking about?" James asked Lily softly. He kissed her neck ran his hands gently over Lily's clothed body.

"You." Lily said. She felt James' hand somewhere near her chest and smiled to herself.

"What about me?" James asked giving her a seductive smile. Lily felt her body shake slightly.

"I-just how amazing you are tonight." Lily said. James grinned.

"And?"

"And how much I love you and want to spend forever with you."

"And?" James smiled cheekily like he could read what she was thinking and was trying to tease her into telling him.

"And what?" She asked. "Isn't that enough?" She turned over so that she was actually lying on James properly on the bench. She knew that no one would interrupt and find them in that position.

"No, I know you're thinking something else. Something along the lines of lust." James said with a smile. Lily smiled and gave him a kiss on the lips. She didn't kiss him for long and held back a bit. She could feel various parts of James body moving unconsciously. 

"Ok, you want me to tell you?" Lily asked. James nodded. "Then tell me what you're thinking about first." James pretended to think.

"Do you want the truth or a slightly watered down version of the truth?" He asked.

"The truth and nothing but the truth." Lily said. James sighed.

"Ok, you asked for it." He warned. "I'm thinking about how sexy you would look naked." He said. Lily looked at him pleasantly surprised. "Now what are you thinking?" 

"Well, it's not so much a thought as a feeling" Lily said. She lowered her mouth to his ear. "I think I'm ready to sleep with you." She whispered. When she brought her head back up she saw James frowning slightly.

"Are you sure because loads of girls have said that to me but they've regretted it after, well not really because I'm James Potter but I think-" Lily put a finger to his lips to silence him.

"All night I have been feeling like it and I can't control myself when I'm with you and I don't care how stupid all that sounded but I am truly ready." Lily said sincerely. She gave James a smile to show him she was ready and James' frown slowly turned into a grin.

"Well, while we're talking about it why don't we just-" James pulled Lily's mouth towards his and started kissing her passionately and fiercely. Lily returned the kiss just as fiercely and she felt James' arms pulled her tightly towards him. They rolled over and landed in the snow that still covered the ground. Lily felt her hair come loose and she noticed that James' hair was no longer tamed.

"Do you want to do it n-" James started but he didn't finish as a jet of Red sparks flew into the air.

"All students back to their dormitories at once. Head students to the headmasters' office." Came McGonagall's booming voice. They stopped for a moment but James pulled Lily towards him again.

"They won't miss us for a few minutes." James said. Lily smiled and kissed him again as she felt James' hands creeping over her back. James brushed some of Lily's hair away, she looked so beautiful. They kissed again but more passionately, James could feel the electricity and the connection between them "We'll just stay here for a moment and-" Someone cleared their throat causing James and Lily to both look up and they saw a teacher standing at the entrance to the alcove.

"Professor Hamish" Lily gasped as James got off the top of her and helped her to her feet. Lily brushed the snow off her robes. Professor Hamish smirked slightly but then looked at them seriously. 

"Deatheaters have been spotted by the entrance of the school grounds. The headmaster would like you in his office now." She said seriously. Lily nodded. She knew that she was slightly flushed and James didn't look much better then she did. Her body was still humming and tingling from a few moments ago. James and Lily followed Professor Hamish to Dumbledore's office.

"What a mood killer" James muttered bitterly. "I can't have just a few moments with-" Lily put a hand over his mouth to silence him and then put a finger to her own mouth.

"This is serious James." She said.

"But I was serious about you, I really wanted-" James was interrupted again.

"Mr. Potter, I assure you that you will get your few moments of privacy with Miss. Evans. If you come for just a little while as you are supposed to I will get Madam Pomfrey to reach Lily some Contraceptive spells." Professor Hamish said without looking at them. A student that was passing them on the way back to their dormitory gave them a strange look but passed without a word. Lily's face went an even brighter shade of red.

"Yes Professor." James muttered. Lily hugged him with one arm and gave him a sympathetic look.

"I feel exactly the same." She said. James looked again as if he had been deprived of something he desperately wanted, which of course, he had.

"Flying Fizzbees." Professor Hamish said when they reached the large stone Gargoyle. They went into Professor Dumbledore's office. McGonagall, Dumbledore and Grout were there.

"That was quick." McGonagall said.

"I went to go find them immediately, I knew they would be slightly reluctant to come." Hamish said. She gave Lily and James a secret look and James and Lily let go of each other's hands. "Mr. Potter was particularly reluctant."

"Well, they're here now." Dumbledore said. "You two, I would like you and the sixth and seventh year prefects to patrol the corridors. I will give you the passwords to the common rooms of the other houses and I want you to take a head count."

"But isn't that a bit…wrong?" Lily asked.

"Yes it is but I'm afraid this is very serious Miss. Evans." McGonagall said. 

"We would do it ourselves but the Head master wants us to check the grounds and make sure the school is safe." Grout said like he thought it was a waste of time. James looked at him suspiciously.

"Hagrid has already started patrolling. Here is a list of the passwords and where the common rooms are located. Hurry." Dumbledore said. Lily took a piece of parchment from the head master. "You know how many there should be in each year." Lily and James left the office with Professor Hamish.

"You two." Hamish said before the two turned to go their own way. "Inhibitum Pregnatus" Hamish said. Lily felt a pain shoot through her abdomen and she doubled over, dropping the parchment and clutching her waist.

"That should prevent you from getting pregnant for the next forty eight hours." Hamish said. "Though my speciality is in potions I know a lot about health. Don't tell anyone else about this." Hamish turned and went towards the staff room. James stared in surprise then bent over to pick up the parchment. He put a hand on Lily's shoulder as she straightened and rubbed her stomach.

"Are you ok?" He asked her.

"Yeah." Lily said uncertainly.

"We better get going." James said.

"Are teachers allowed to do that?" Lily asked as she followed James. The pain in her abdomen was gone but she still felt a weird sensation in the region just above her waist.

"I don't think so." James said. "I will never think evil of that woman again." Lily smiled.

"Well, we've still got to learn to master it." Lily said.

"Yeah, we do." James said looking at Lily with a smile. "Lets get this done, we have a whole weekend." Lily nodded and smiled back. She kept a hand on her abdomen where she felt a strange tingling feeling that was slightly painful and caused a little discomfort.

A/N:-how annoying would that be? Being caught by a teacher?


	23. Loss of Changs

Lily looked up at a tapestry of a flock of birds roosting in a tree. Lily looked closely and realised that the birds were ravens. Lily shrugged and then looked at her piece of parchment.

"Nimble wimble?" Lily said uncertainly. That did not sound anything like a password. The tapestry was pushed to the side like someone opening some curtains and Lily walked in through a small passageway concealed in the wall. She walked through a small tunnel and came out into a large common room filled with small tables and a few odd sofas around a fireplace. There were people walking around everywhere and talking quickly. Everyone seemed to have changed either into their own clothes or their robes. Lily felt slightly out of place, she knew she shouldn't be in the Ravenclaw Common room and she was still in her dress robes. Lily stepped into the common room but no one noticed her. A few people glanced at her but kept talking.

"Excuse me!" Lily shouted over the noise. No one listened to her. Lily tried again but only a few people looked. Slightly annoyed Lily stepped on a chair and pulled out her wand. She aimed it at the ceiling and there was a loud crack like someone had pulled a trigger on a gun. This caught everyone's attention and Lily felt slightly shy standing on the chair.

"Now that I have you attention!" Lily said.

"What are you doing here Lily?" asked a Ravenclaw seventh year prefect.

"If you let me speak I will tell you." Lily said impatiently. She still had to go and visit the Hufflepuffs. "I have been sent by Dumbledore to inform you that you are to stay in your common rooms until further notice." Lily said glancing at the paper. "I also need the prefects to count how many students are in the Ravenclaw tower and tell me if there is anyone missing." Lily said. A few people looked at her. The Prefects seemed a bit confused "Ok, lets do this the muggle way, First years line up over there, second years there, third years, fourth years, fifth years, sixth years and seventh years" Lily said pointing around the room. The Ravenclaws complied quickly and soon Lily had confirmation from the prefects that everyone was there. Lily nodded and got off the chair. She felt the tingling sensation in her abdomen again and rubbed it slightly.

"Lily, what's going on? The head of house normally comes to tell us these things" asked Lee Chang. Lily looked at her.

"The teachers are busy. James and I have to go to all the houses and count them all. Dumbledore won't tell us exactly why." Lily said. "Ok, Sixth and Seventh year prefects please come with me." Lily shouted. Four students detached themselves from the mass of Ravenclaws and followed Lily out of the common room.

"Where are we going now?" asked a sixth year prefect.

"We have to go to the Hufflepuff common room." Lily said. She felt the discomfort in her abdomen fade away slightly. _I hope Professor Hamish hasn't removed anything_ Lily found herself thinking. They went down a few stairs and came to the first floor. Lily knew there was a large statue of a woman here but she had never thought it was to protect the Hufflepuff dormitories. 

"What's the password?" asked a prefect. Lily looked at the parchment.

"Mandragora" Lily said. The statue moved away. "Wait here and if anything happens shout for me." She said to the Ravenclaws. They all nodded and got their wands out. Lily walked through the door and into a large dark yellow room. Like the Ravenclaws the students had all changed and were milling around trying to figure out what was happening.

"Lily!" said a seventh year girl in surprised.

"Can the prefects count to see if there are any students missing?" Lily said to the girl. She nodded and set about organising the Hufflepuffs. 

"Why was the ball stopped?"

"Why isn't professor Sprout here?"

"What's going on?" came the questions.

"I don't know. I've just been told to count everyone, call the prefects of the upper two years and tell everyone to stay in their common rooms or dorms." Lily said scribbling down the number of Hufflepuffs.

"Wait there's someone missing." Said a boy with fair hair.

"Who?" Lily said, her head shooting up.

"Charlie Kinnear." He told Lily. Why did Lily know that surname? He was Jenny's date!

"Ok, everyone stay, sixth and seventh year prefects with me. The Ravenclaws are waiting outside." Lily said. She was followed out by the prefects and they joined the Ravenclaws who were starting to talk idly.

"Ok, we have to go to Slytherin now." Lily said with disgust.

"What? Why?"

"We don't have to go in, James is getting the Prefects. He thought it was safer." Lily said, a smile playing on her face.

"Please don't rub in the fact that you got James." Said a tall black haired girl wearing Hufflepuff robes. Lily rolled her eyes and made her way to the dungeons. As she got to the entrance to the dungeons James came out followed by four smirking prefects in green.

"Lily." James said happily.

"Oh, it's mudblood Evans." Drawled Jeffrey Benson.

"Shut up!" James said rounding on Benson. 

"Why?"

"Say one word about her or I'll-"

"James, go and get Remus and the others." Lily said. "I can handle it." James frowned uncertainly before giving Lily a quick peck on the cheek and rushing up the stairs.

"Wasn't you hair in a bun earlier?" sneered a Slytherin girl.

"Yes it was." Lily said. "Now I want you to partner up with one seventh year with a sixth year for protection. Dumbledore has ordered that we patrol the corridors for the whole night." Lily said.

"The whole night? We'll be knackered." Complained a Hufflepuff, "I've got loads of homework to do."

"Well you should have got it done earlier shouldn't you?" snapped a seventh year Ravenclaw.

"Ok, fine, we'll take shifts. If it's not your shift you're up in the Prefect common room. I want one pair from each house doing six hours." Lily said impatiently.

"What about You and James?" asked a Ravenclaw. "You're probably going to just sit around."

"No, we'll go on patrols as well." Lily said.

"Yeah, she's probably going to 'patrol' with Potter and then let someone get caught." Sneered the female Seventh years.

"Ok, Slytherins get to patrol the whole night. The rest of you get into your partners, in six hours I want the first pair to come back to swap, we'll send the Gryffindors when they arrive" Lily said. The Slytherins were going to protest when Lily turned on her heel and started up the stairs followed by the four prefects that had time off.

*    *    *    *

Lily pulled her wand out and looked at her reflection. She still looked as good as she did earlier but she didn't think that she ought to wear her dress robes out on patrols.

"So where did you and James Disappear off to earlier?" asked Hilary Game, a Ravenclaw Prefect.

"We went for a walk." Lily said quickly. She felt the discomfort return and she bit her lip slightly.

"Yeah, that would explain why your hair was suddenly down." Hilary said, clearly not believing her. Lily knew that Hilary was one of James' ex's and was insanely jealous of Lily.

"Well we got a bit distracted." Lily said.

"With each other's mouths" smirked the Hufflepuff seventh year girl Jamie Korbet. Jamie and Hilary started giggling and Lily flicked her wand. She had suddenly changed into a pair of low slung bark blue jeans and her white turtle neck jumper. She tucked the wand down her sleeve.

"Ok, that's enough." Lily said. "This is serious, the stuff the Dumbledore wants us to do. There's already one student missing." Lily said

"Who?" asked a sixth year.

"Charles Kinnear." James came running into the common room followed by Remus and the other two sixth years.

"Jenny's missing." James said breathlessly. Lily went straight to him.

"What!" Lily asked him.

"She was last seen with her date." Remus said. "April was the last one to see her. Jenny and Charles was going out for a walk, a few minutes after you and James left."

"Do you think Charles is a deatheater?" asked a sixth year Gryffindor.

"No, he can't be because he's missing to" Lily said.

"Besides he's a muggle born wizard." Said Jamie. 

"Jenny's missing," Lily muttered to herself. How could that happen? Jenny was Lily's best friend, she couldn't be missing. Lily didn't want to lose someone else who was close to her. James, sensing Lily' distress pulled her into a tight hug.

"Ok, what ever Lily organised I want you, Hilary to organise the Gryffindors into doing it." James said. Lily could feel his chest vibrate as he spoke. Lily could feel the desire to let go start to emerge again. She quickly let go and felt her head swimming. Jenny was gone, her parents were dead, her sister pretended that she didn't exist and she desperately wanted some privacy with James but couldn't have it. Hilary sorted the Gryffindor prefects into groups and set the first few off. On top of everything Lily felt she could feel the discomfort again. She'd read that you shouldn't be able to feel anything with a contraceptive spell.

"Lily," James asked hesitantly as he watched Lily's brow furrow and her hands moving indecisively to her head then going back down to her sides. James touched Lily's shoulder but she batted him away. As much as she wanted to be with James, the lack of privacy was really getting to her. And Jenny, Lily had only known Jenny for six years but other than April, who Lily considered a sister, Lily loved her a lot and considered Jenny her closest friend. Lily sat in the nearest sofa and stared at the fire.

"Lily." James whispered. All the other prefects had wandered off to the corner or were flicking through a few books on a bookshelf they had in the common room. "Dumbledore will find her." James said.

"What if he doesn't? What if he doesn't?" Lily said. She could feel herself shaking and James put his hand on her shoulder.

"He will, I don't doubt him for a minute, he will find Jenny and she'll be safe." James said trying to comfort Lily. She frowned and hugged herself. 

"I feel ill" she said looking at him. James sighed and tucked a strand of her rich dark red hair behind her ear.

"Don't worry." James said kissing her forehead. Lily rested her head against the back of the chair and looked around. Everything seemed drearier then it had ever been, she felt worse about Jenny gone missing then her parents dying. A few moments later the door opened and Professor McGonagall came into the prefect common room followed by, Professor Grout and Professor Flitwick. The group of Prefects that had been out patrolling strolled in.

"Prefects please return to your houses, Lily, James, that includes you" McGonagall said. "Professor Flitwick will escort the Ravenclaws, Professor Grout the Slytherins. Please go." McGonagall said. Flitwick and Grout indicated for their houses to follow them and soon Prefects from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were left. Lily felt the bottom of her stomach disappear. This could only mean bad news.

"Please come to the meeting table and sit down." McGonagall said very seriously. James helped Lily out of the chair and led her to the meeting table. Lily sat in her usual seat on one side of the table and James sat on the opposite side. McGonagall looked around the table but avoided eye contact with Lily.

"I am afraid that there will be new rules imposed on the houses from now on. All students are not allowed to leave their common rooms without an escort. Notices will be put up on the school notice board and the headmaster will be making an announcement tomorrow." The door to Prefect common room opened and Lee Chang, the fair-haired boy from Hufflepuff and April walked in accompanied by Professor Hamish.

"What's going on?" April asked when she saw everyone looking seriously.

"Please, take a seat next to Lily." McGonagall said. Lily felt her abdomen give a slight cramp and put a hand to it and tried to calm it. She glanced around and saw Professor Hamish looking at her. Lily turned away and watched as April took a seat next to Lily. April glanced at Lily and took her hand.

"What's going on?" April whispered as the others took their seats. Lily shrugged and looked back at McGonagall.

"As I was saying, now that everyone is here. I am afraid two students had gone missing and our worse fears were realised." Lily felt like she was jumping off a cliff. "We would give you this news in the headmaster's office but as most of you were prefects we thought it may be better to tell you here." McGonagall took a deep breath and her eyes flicked to the fair-haired boy, April, Lily then Lee. "Two students have been found dead by the Forest on the Edge of the lake. These two students were Charles Kinnear" McGaonagall hesitated as the Hufflepuffs gasped and stared in shock, "And Jennifer Chang." She said slowly. Lily closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to try and calm the panic rising in her throat. She felt April's grip on her hand tighten. April didn't know how to react, Jenny was one of her best friends. Jenny's sister didn't seemed to have processed this piece of news and looked like she was in the process of letting it sink in. The other Gryffindors were shocked and started whispering among themselves.

"Who killed them?" Remus whispered. His voice seemed like a strangers, it was quite deep and fairly hoarse.

"We believe it was the deatheaters that were hanging around the entrance earlier this evening. Have you been informed of that?" The prefects shook their head. "Good but I am very very sorry for your loss and Professor Dumbledore has cancelled the next week of lessons for you to grieve. Friends and family of Miss. Chang and Mr. Kinnear will be given permission to attend their funerals." McGonagall said. Her voice was choking slightly and she had to stop. The Prefects started to get up and file out of the room. Everyone Except Lee Chang, April, Lily, James and Remus. Lily opened her eyes and stood up and headed towards the door. She couldn't stand being in the room. She had loved this school because it was an escape from the troubles of the outside world. The worst that ever happened at Hogwarts was a few insults from the Slytherins and the odd bit of news that someone had died. But nothing worse then that ever happened, especially to Lily's friends. Jenny wasn't dead, she couldn't be. Why would Voldemort want to kill a full-blooded witch? Lily wasn't looking where she was going and bumped into Professor Hamish.

"Sorry." Lily said, her voice shaking slightly. Lily turned to look at her friends. April was as pale as she had been, the tan that she had been trying to work on since the summer had completely faded. Remus and James were silent, at a loss at what to say. Suddenly a sob broke the silence and Lee started shaking. Lily and April immediately went to her side.

"Jenny," Lee said between sobs. Lily held her tightly and Lee cried into her jumper. "She's my sister." 

"She was our sister to" April whispered, tears falling down her cheeks. James got up uncertainly and looked at Remus.

"Please return to your common rooms before two." McGonagall said as she left the Prefect common room. 

Professor Hamish stayed behind to watch over the distraught teens. She normally tried to detach herself from her students but she felt a tear come to her eyes.

"Come on" Hamish said after about half an hour of the teens crying. April and Lee clung together and Lily was in James' arms. Remus was still sitting in his seat looking stunned. The students nodded and followed Hamish out of the prefect common room. As they walked towards the Ravenclaw Common Room to drop Lee off. Hamish found it unnerving that the students weren't talking and that Lily and James weren't holding hands. She had grown very used to seeing Lily and James going everywhere together and the small group of friends, including Sirius and Jenny laughing constantly.


	24. Jenny and Contraception

Peter sat in his bed shivering. He didn't mean to do it. She had gotten in the way he didn't want to kill Jenny, he hadn't meant to. He had been told to kill Charles, not Jenny. He had heard Remus and James talking to Sirius about it the previous night and heard Sirius smash something. Oh god what was he going to do? Could he keep this a secret? He had to otherwise he knew that Lily and April weren't going to be the only ones after his blood. He hated Lily now, just looking at her made his blood boil. He hated those who were such good friends with mudbloods which made his heart break because James, one of his best friends was head over heels in love for a mudblood. Sirius let out another shudder as he remembered Jenny, he had made her worst fears come true, just a few days before she had secretly confided in Peter that she was terrified of getting killed while she was so young, she wanted to live to see a time of peace and Peter had agreed that he'd help her see the peaceful future. He had betrayed her.

Peter got out of his bed and glanced around the room. The other three beds still had their hangings closed around them. Peter picked up a quill and started to write out his report for his assigned mentor, Bellatrix Lestrange.

*    *    *    *

The seventh year girl's dorm was silent save for the breathing of the four girls that stayed there and the occasional sob from April or Lily. It was nearly lunch and Lily just stared at her hangings. Not only was she feeling depressed and upset that Jenny was no longer…she didn't want to think about it. She felt depressed, upset, tired from lack of sleep and she had the most horrible feeling that Hamish's contraceptive spell had gone wrong because Lily had been feeling a small throbbing in her abdomen. There was a rustle of hangings and someone walked across the room. Lily's hangings moved and April sat on her bed and pulled the hangings around them.

"Could you sleep?" April asked. April didn't look good at all. Her eyes were red from crying and her usually immaculate blond hair was messed up.

"No." Lily said sitting up to make space for April. Lily knew she probably looked the same as April.

"I can't believe she's gone. She was always there, you know, and now she's not." April said, her eyes were brimming with tears again.

"I know." Lily said, "I feel so bad. Like it's my fault. James and I were outside and we should have heard something but instead we were so involved in ourselves and trying to figure out a way to-" Lily stopped, she felt so angry just thinking about it. If James and herself hadn't been so self absorbed they could have heard Jenny and Charles.

"You feel bad? I was outside as well." April said, "God, it's so stupid. Jenny wasn't even a muggle born, like all of Voldemort's other victims, she didn't deserve to die, neither did Charles. Why do the good people always die?" April asked. "I don't understand why it's the good people who always die. Why can't it be the evil people, the people who make our lives a misery and spoil everything good?" Lily pulled April into a sisterly embrace as April started crying again. Lily was close to tears herself. She was trying so hard to be strong for April and because she knew Jenny wouldn't want everyone crying over her.

"The important thing is to be here for Lee." Lily said, her voice was very shaky and sounded very uncertain. She felt April nod and Lily stroked April's hair. It was still quite surreal, Lily didn't think that she could accept Jenny's death.

*    *    *    *

Lily snuck up the boys dormitory stairs and pushed open a door that had Seventh year written on it. She hadn't seen any of the boys downstairs and she just wanted to see James. Unfortunately boys weren't allowed in the girl's dormitories so Lily had been forced out of bed as soon as she had gotten April asleep. Lily herself felt absolutely knackered but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't sleep. She pushed open the door and looked at the room with four beds. One bed was empty and unmade, Peter's bed. Lily hadn't seen Peter a lot recently, he seemed to be keeping a lot to himself but Lily didn't particularly like him that much but then again she really didn't know him that well. She went to a bed that had James Potter written a trunk at the foot of the bed. 

Lily tiptoed over to the bed and parted the hangings slightly and looked in. James was wide awake staring at the ceiling. He turned to see who had opened his hangings. He gave her a grim smile and Lily slipped through the hangings and slipped under the duvet to join James. He put his arms around her tightly and kissed her forehead. 

"I was wondering when you'd come." James whispered so Lily could hardly hear him.

"I had to get April to sleep." Lily said, "She hasn't slept all night and she looks really bad" Lily's volume matched James. James took a deep breath and pressed his face into Lily's hair. Lily felt sleep taking over her tired body like a wave creeping its way slowly up her body. James stroked Lily's hair and then ran a thumb over her smooth cheek.

"You don't look like you've had much sleep. Just let go of your feelings and sleep." James whispered into her ear but Lily was already asleep before he finished the sentence. James sighed and watched Lily sleep, she was so beautiful asleep but she was still frowning very slightly like her troubles still hadn't left her while she was asleep.

*    *    *    *

It was nearly dinner when April finally woke up. She wondered for a little why she was in Lily's bed but shrugged it off. She got out and started rummaging through her fairly big collection of books. She came to a white leather bound book with no name on it. She pulled it out, careful not to make all the books above it to fall. When she had succeeded she sat on her bed and pulled her hangings around her. She opened it and turned to the first page.

**Photo album of April Marsden** was scrawled in untidy writing on the front page followed by a photo of April when she was really young, maybe about eight. The young April was grinning broadly and waving madly. April flipped through a lot more pages to the middle of the book where the photos from Hogwarts started. The first photo she saw was one of Jenny, April and Lily all sitting on the sofa in the Common room laughing when they were first years. Jenny and April's hair was a lot shorter then it was now but Lily's was longer. Jenny looked at a few more photos containing the three of them or just two of them, in each photo they got older and older until they reached the one from the Christmas of sixth year when they had spent the holiday at Jenny's. April remembered each memory vividly, the three sixth years in the photo were red faced and slightly out of breath because they'd just been out having the biggest snowball fight against Lee and the oldest Chang as well as Lee's best friend. Jenny had always hated the photo because she felt it made her look fat. April, Lily and Jenny had promised they'd be best friends forever but that wasn't ever going to happen now. April sighed and closed the book before a tear fell down her cheek. Where was Lily?

As if on cue April heard someone call her name. April opened the hangings but there wasn't anyone outside her bed in the room. April got up and looked around confused, clutching the photo album in one hand.

"Lily?" April asked. From nowhere Lily appeared in front of April. Lily held a silvery cloak in her right hand. April jumped in surprise. Lily looked like she normally did but her face was slightly screwed in pain.

"April, will you come with me to see Professor Hamish?" Lily asked.

"Sure," April said, April looked at the cloak. "What's that?" she asked. Lily looked at the cloak in her hand.

"James' invisibility cloak, he's letting me borrow it for a while." Lily said. April nodded and Lily went up to her and pulled the cloak over the two of them.

"Why are we going to Hamish?" April asked.

"Because I think that a spell she put on me is going wrong." Lily said.

"What spell?" April asked, Lily frowned slightly,

"A Contraceptive spell." Lily said. They walked down the dormitory steps and through the common room and soon they were out in the hall without anyone seeing them. Lily got out a blank piece of parchment.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." Lily whispered tapping it with her wand. April thought that Lily was starting to go a bit mad when a map of Hogwarts appeared on the parchment. April stared amazed. There were small dots with people's names on them Lily scanned the page quickly.

"Mischief managed." She said. The page went blank. "No teachers, that's good." Lily rolled up the parchment and tucked it in the waistband of her jeans.

"What was that?" April asked.

"James' map, he's lent that to me as well. He thinks I should see Professor Hamish as well." Lily said. They started down for the dungeons where Professor Hamish's office was. They climbed down the steps carefully, trying to not let the invisibility cloak slip. It was weird travelling under it. They came to Hamish's office and Lily looked around before pulling the invisibility cloak off. Lily knocked on the door and soon it opened to show a slightly dishevelled looking Professor Hamish.

"Lily, April, what are you doing out of your common rooms?" Hamish asked.

"I need to talk to you about something." Lily said. Hamish nodded and let them in. Hamish's office was quite homey and cosy despite the fact that it was in the dungeons. There were many jars of strange substances, items and a desk in the corner lit by a floating lantern.

"How can I help you Lily?" Hamish asked. Lily frowned slightly, she didn't normally talk about things to do with sex and things with a teacher, she found it awkward talking about it to anyone except James, April and Jenny. Well now just James and April.

"You know that spell you put on me last night." Lily asked Hamish. Hamish sat at her desk and looked at Lily like she couldn't remember what spell. "The…um…contraceptive spell." Lily said.

"Ah, yes. Inhibitum Pregnatus." Hamish said.

"Yeah, I was wondering whether you'd done it right." Lily said. "Because I've been feeling a bit weird since you did it." April listened silently. Why hadn't she considered contraception?

"That is perfectly normal, it will feel like that the first few times because your body isn't used to it. After three or four times of using the spell you will not feel anything." Hamish said with a slight smile. Lily sighed, relieved. "You two don't look very good at all, have you had any sleep?" Hamish asked, "Sit down." Lily and April sat down in two chairs that Hamish had summoned up. April put her hands on her lap and realised she was still holding the photo album. Hamish flicked her wand and two large mugs of hot chocolate appeared on her desk.

"Thank you professor" Lily said taking one.

"I went to see Lee Chang earlier, she was dreadful. No sleep and a lot of crying. How are you two?" Hamish asked.

"Alright." Lily lied.

"Tired." April said.

"Well, I was going to come and see you if you hadn't seen me. Dumbledore thought I'd be a more sensitive teacher then the other teachers and asked me to tell you that Jenny's funeral is on Tuesday. Dumbledore would tell you himself but he is very busy." Hamish said. Lily and April nodded. Lily took a sip from the hot chocolate and instantly felt slightly better.

"How are we getting to-" April started but her voice faded as she looked at the cover of her photo album.

"Dumbledore has been given permission to make a portkey for Lee but you can go with her or apparate there." Hamish said. "April, please take this hot chocolate, it will help calm you." April nodded and put the photo album on the desk and picked up the hot chocolate. Hamish eyed the photo album curiously but looked back at the girls. "Do you mind if I?" Hamish pointed to the photo album. April shook her head and Hamish took the book and flicked through it. Hamish always liked looking at photos, she was always interested in the lives of her students, though she rather not get too close to them. Lily and April started whispering in very hushed whispers, April smiled slightly and Lily looked slightly happier then she had looked before. 

"Well, it's nearly dinner, do you want to go to the great hall?" Hamish asked handing the book back.

"Um, I am feeling slightly hungry." Lily said quietly.

"You should have something to eat, it'll help." Hamish said. "I suggest you change first though." Lily and April looked at each other, April was still in her sleeping clothes but Lily was dressed casually. April got out her wand and flicked it at herself and she was soon in her school robes. 

"This'll do." She muttered. Hamish nodded and led them to the great hall.


	25. The Funeral

A/N:- I have a HUUUUGE apology to make, I kinda forgot to add a chapter between _Inhibitum Pregnatus_ and _Jenny and Contraception_. The chapter I missed out is called _Loss of Changs_ so before you read this chapter please read that chapter, it's when they actually find out that Jenny has died. **I'M SO SORRY, **I miss labelled the chapters, **PLEASE READ LOSS OF CHANGS BEFORE THIS ONE!!!!!**

Going to the great hall turned out to be the worst thing that Lily could do. Not only did people keep coming up to her to say sorry about Jenny but many of the students were whispering rumours to themselves and a few people came up to Lily to ask her about it. Lily was finding it very difficult to keep her tears at bay.

"Ignore them." James said, putting a comforting arm around Lily.

"It's just getting too much, I can't cope with this." Lily said. April frowned, she didn't like seeing Lily like that. Lily was April's role model, she was smart, beautiful, popular and so strong but seeing Lily get so agitated and close to tears made April feel like she'd been really selfish. Lily ate a piece of Shepard's pie but it tasted like cardboard, like everything else she had eaten while she was in the great hall. The pumpkin juice had no taste at all everything just look so depressing. 

"Hey, Evans, is it true that you cut your wrists last night?" asked a concerned Hufflepuff sixth year girl.

"Where do people get these things from?" growled Sirius.

"Detention." James said, he had handed out so many detentions already and another wouldn't hurt. The Hufflepuff scowled and walked off. Lily got up and grabbed James' cloak as she got up. It was lying on the bench between them. 

"Lily." James said following her out of the hall. Lily pulled the cloak over her and ran up to the Gryffindor common room. James hesitated slightly and then gave up and headed back to dinner.

*    *    *    *

"We will always remember how much Jenny cared for the people she loved. She had a bigger heart than most people and would do anything for her friends and family."

"Except let me copy her homework" April muttered so quietly only Lily heard. A smile played across Lily's face as she remembered all the small playful arguments they had all had over the past few years, trying to get April to do her own work.

"So we say goodbye to Jenny Chang, beloved daughter, adored sister and a much loved friend." The person conducting the funeral stepped away and went to Mr. And Mrs. Chang. "I am very sorry for your loss, in these hard times all I can offer is my support. She was too young to be killed in such a horrid way." Mrs. Chang nodded and pulled Lee closer to her. Lily felt like being sick. Being at the funeral meant that Jenny was really gone. James and Sirius wasn't allowed to come with them so April and Lily were trying to support each other. People started going to Jenny's parents to offer their cosolences but to Lily and April it seemed like they didn't want them, they just wanted to be left on their own. Lily and April went up to the coffin that lay at the front of the room surrounded by flowers. Lily clutched a small box and April had a couple of photos in her hand.

April touched the smooth wooden surface of the wooden box and ran her hand along it. The dark brown polished box was what Jenny was going to live in for the rest of time. She turned to Lily who took her want out.

"Alohamora" Lily barely managed to say as she pointed the wand at a small lock on the coffin. The lock gave a soft click and Lily looked at April. "Together?" she asked. April nodded.

"Together." April Confirmed. Both the girls pushed the lid up and saw Jenny's lifeless body lying peacefully in the coffin. Behind them Jenny's dad was going to go to them to tell them to stop it but Jenny's brother and mum stopped him.

"She looks so peaceful." April said touching Jenny's cold cheek. Lily looked into the small box she held in her hand. There was a long slender wand inside, the wand had belonged to Jenny. Jenny had left it in the dormitory on the night of the ball, Lily had found it while sorting through Jenny's things with April. Lily took out the wand and placed it at one of Jenny's hands. Lily half expected Jenny to get up and smiled at them saying everything was a joke but Jenny didn't. 

"Just so you're armed in the afterlife." Lily whispered. Lily looked at April. April looked at the photos. They were all the photos that Lily and April could find that they vaguely remembered Jenny liking. April placed them by her head and leant over and kissed her cold forehead.

"We love you." April said to the lifeless corpse. Lily and April stood there for a few more minutes just staring at their dead friend. They were about to close the lid when Lee joined them. 

"Dad's really angry." Lee muttered after a while. "He didn't want to see Jenny's body."

"We did." Lily said. April and Lily lowered the lid and put a spell on it to lock the lid down. Lily and April both felt slightly better having seen Jenny and said their final goodbyes. Lily thought that if she had been to her parent's funeral she would feel the same but she didn't. Lily and April turned to go and had started for the door when they heard s soft voice behind them.

"Jenny would be pleased with what you did, even if my husband wasn't." said Mrs. Chang behind them. Lily and April turned to look at her. "I sometimes think that you two were more her family then we were, she never stopped talking about you, how you, Lily, were the smartest girl she'd ever known, and April, that you were the best hearted person she'd met. She cared about you a lot you know." April and Lily could just mange small smiles. "I want you to know that you will always be welcome to ask for our help, should you ever need it." Mrs. Chang said. 

"Thank you" was all Lily could say. April looked like she was on the verge of tears again.

"Would you mind taking Lee back to school." Mrs. Chang said. April shook her head.

"We'll wait outside." April said. Mrs. Chang gave them a smile and turned to get Lee.

*    *    *    *

Lily sat on the sofa in the empty common room. She crossed her arms and rested them on April's legs. April was lying on the sofa with her legs over Lily's. April was actually reading for a change and Lily was staring into the fire.

"You know I feel slightly better." Lily said.

"I don't" April said. Both of them felt a lot better after the funeral. Jenny's death had finally sunk in and they had said their goodbyes to their best friend. They both felt something coming over them that made them happy about the fact that Jenny had moved on to a better place.

"You said earlier that you felt better." Lily said.

"Well, I do but I don't at the same time." April said. "I think some of Jenny has come into me" April sat up slightly, "I mean I'm reading!" Lily laughed and pushed April over and sighed.

"I'll be glad when we get back to lessons." Lily said. 

"Lessons start next week." April said, her head going back into her book.

"Yeah." Lily said slightly depressed, "I've just thought of a very depressing idea." 

"What's that?" April asked. She sounded as though she was half concentrating.

"I'm going to have my eighteenth birthday without Jenny." Lily said. April put her book down and looked at Lily and took her hand.

"Oh, Lily" April said. She sat up again and put a hand on Lily's head. "You know what Jenny would say don't you?"

"What?" Lily asked looking at April.

"Well, more like do. She'd get on a broom and play quidditch." April said grinning. Lily smiled


	26. Another Attack

A/N:- It's my birthday today!!! WOOO!!! I start driving lessons on weds…WOO!! Well, it seems that Lily and April are getting over Jenny's death a bit quick but then they do have each other don't they?

February quickly blended into March then April and though Lily and April were starting to enjoy life more they never forgot about Jenny, if anything it kept a sort of blanket over them. They often checked up on Lee, who seemed to be coping a lot worse then Lily or April, but Lee had no friends who fully understood what she was going through. She couldn't see Lily or April whenever she wanted to because Lee was in Ravenclaw. The teachers insisted that the Seventh years start revising for the NEWTs. A task that Lily and April had already started but the boys were complaining about. The students were still banned from leaving their common room and the teachers had started to escort the students around the school. Lily and James had been told about these increases in security but they were never told exactly why.

"Lily, can I borrow your notes on the Veritaserum?" James asked as Lily did her History of Magic essay.

"Why?" Lily asked.

"Because mine are…they were eaten by Padfoot" James said. Lily looked at James.

"Sirius ate your notes?" Lily asked.

"No, Padfoot ate my notes, Sirius thought it was funny." James said slightly annoyed. Lily smiled and glanced at April who was giggling at it.

"Only if you give me a kiss." Lily said. James grinning and picked Lily up in his arms. He pressed his lips against hers and they shared a deep and passionate kiss.

"Get a room." April said when she noticed what Lily and James were doing. James put Lily down and Lily straightened her robes and patted her hair down.

"Ok, wait here." Lily said. She quickly went up the stairs to her dorm and she picked up her potions notes. She took them all downstairs as she flicked through them looking for the right notes. She sat down next to April while James sat on the table in front of Lily.

"April!" Sirius said bounding down the stairs. April looked up and smiled. "Guess what day it is?" Sirius asked.

"I know, it's the first of April." April said rolling her eyes.

"Not just that." Sirius said. "It's April fools day, which means that you're going to have to make a fool of yourself." April frowned.

"Do I have to, I have three essays to do and I have to write out the ingredients of a potion which I don't know." April said. Sirius pouted.

"Please, for me." He said. "Besides, stuff homework, it's the weekend."

"It's a Sunday, Padfoot." James said not taking his eyes off Lily.

"Here." Lily said handing the notes to James,

"Thanks." James said bending over and giving Lily a kiss.

"Remember it's my birthday on Friday" Lily said. She smiled as she thought about it. For once she'd have a peaceful birthday without something happening to her. Every year the Marauders would play a prank on her but this year because she was dating James that wouldn't happen. But this would be the first birthday without Jenny.

"I'll give you a present you'll never forget." James said smiling. He kissed her again. "Padfoot a word upstairs please." James and Sirius went upstairs. On the way Sirius grabbed the back of Peter's collar and dragged him from the notice board into the boys Dormitory. Remus was sitting on the edge of his bed flicking through a few notes.

"What's up?" Sirius asked.

"I need all your advice." James said. He closed the door and put his hands into his pockets. Peter, Remus and Sirius all looked at him curiously. "You know I love Lily and that I want to like spend my entire life with her."

"Please, you don't shut up about it." Sirius said. James grinned then he went serious. He took a deep breath and pulled out a small box from his pocket.

"Well, what do you think if I proposed to her?" James said. He opened the box to reveal a ring with three clear diamonds set in it. Peter let out a small squeak of surprise. Sirius and Remus looked at each other then at James.

"Are you joking?" Sirius asked, "Marriage is like certain death." 

"Are you absolutely serious about it?" Remus asked.

"Well, I was thinking that we love each other and-" James closed the box, "You don't want me to propose?" James asked slightly disappointed.

"No, we think the idea is really good and we think you should get married but you're a bit…young aren't you?" Sirius asked.

"Love knows no age." James said. He sighed. "I won't ask her if you don't want me to. I just thought that because we love each other and because she's been quite depressed lately over Jenny and the world is getting worse, it might just, you know, lift her spirits." Peter frowned so much that his brow was a sea of wrinkles. Sirius thought for a while but Remus smiled.

"You have my support." Remus said. He had thought about it and about what Jenny and April would say about it. He could always find out what April would say but Jenny, she would definitely want James to propose. "Jenny would want you to get married." Remus added. James gave him a grim smile. Jenny's memory was haunting all of them. Sirius looked at Remus and sighed. He broke out into a grin and gave James a brotherly hug.

"Bachelor PARTY!" he shouted.

"Sh!" James said, "You never know if Lily can hear us from here" James turned to Peter, "What do you think?" 

"Well, I don't know. Doesn't it bother you that the dark lord could be after her? She is a muggle born." Peter said. James nodded, 

"I thought about that and I'll protect her." James said, "I'd die for Lily."

"I suppose you have my support as well then." Peter said shrugging. James grinned at his three friends. 

"You're all going to be my best men." He said.

"You can only choose one." Remus said. "I for one think it should be me." He said smirking at Sirius. Sirius looked at Remus.

"No it should so be me. James has known me longer then he's known you." Sirius said.

"By, what? A couple of years. No, I think it should be me. I'm the rational one." Remus said. Sirius' eyes narrowed in pretend anger.

"You asked for it." Sirius said rolling up his sleeves. He grabbed Remus around the neck and rubbed his knuckles against Remus' head. James rolled his eyes as his friends fought over best man. He noticed that Peter was still frowning but James knew he'd come round eventually.

*    *    *    *

"Today I will be handing out past NEWT questions for you to practice, yes I know it's only April but your exams are only in two months." McGonagall said. She handed the papers out to the students. She automatically handed a paper out to an empty seat next to Lily but then when no one took it she remembered why. She cleared her throat and carried on. Lily looked at April who was looking fairly grim.

"Well at least she remembered." April said. "Grout forgot."

"Yeah," Lily said. She picked up her quill and started to look through the paper. "What is the incantation to transform a human into a gerbil?" she read.

"Jenny knew the answer to that." April said.

"I know," Lily said. Lily wrote down the answer and went to the next question.

"What are you doing for your birthday?" April asked.

"Nothing." Lily said. She wrote down the answer to the next question and sighed. "We're not allowed to do anything remember."

"Oh yeah." April said gloomily. "Have you heard anything on the increased security measures?"

"No. The teachers are keeping their mouths shut on it." Lily said. "But the daily Prophet said there's been Dementors in Hogsmeade,"

"Dad told me there's been quite a few attacks on the muggles in our villiage." April said. April stared absently at the board and started doodling on her paper.

"Try and do these on your own but if you need help you may ask a question or refer to your notes. I will be collecting them in next lesson." McGonagall said. She went to her desk and sat down. McGonagall started marking some work while the class chattered among themselves and worked at the same time. Lily was finished in a few minutes and sat and helped April for a while.

"No, can't you remember what McGonagall said you should do if you got you transfiguration wrong." Lily said as she tried to teach April what you should do if your human transfiguration went wrong.

"Go to St. Mungos?" April asked, Lily shook her head. "I can't concentrate." April moaned as she dropped her head on the table with a good thump. A few people looked up from their work.

"Come on." Lily said. "Just stop for a while." The door opened and Professor Grout came in.

"Professor, the head master would like all students to return to their dormitories." Grout said to McGonagall before he was at the desk. McGonagall shot Professor an enquiring look but understood. 

"Miss. Evans, Mr. Potter, please escort the students back to their common rooms." McGonagall said. Lily and James nodded and everyone started packing their things away.

"Ok, now." Sirius whispered to James. James nodded and pulled his invisibility cloak out of his bag. He tucked it under his robes until everyone was leaving the classroom. Lily turned to talk to James and she blinked a few times when she saw that James was no longer where she thought he was.

"James, this isn't funny" Lily muttered before following the students out. James, Sirius and Remus snuck out of the Transfiguration classroom and Sirius got out the Marauder's map.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." He said tapping the wand. He watched as he saw a group of small dots converging where Dumbledore's office was. 

"We've got to go there." James said pointing to Dumbledore's office. They hurried to Dumbledore's office. It was difficult trying to keep themselves covered because they were all quite tall but they managed.

"What is it Albus? You can't keep interrupting our lessons." Said McGonagall's voice. The three turned a corner to see all the teachers, including Dumbledore standing at the entrance to Dumbledore's office.

"I'm afraid that there as been another attack." Dumbledore said.

"On who?" asked Professor Sprout shocked, 

"Which family do we have to tell their son or daughter has gone missing?" Grout drawled. James felt hatred for the man welling up inside him. Grout had no feelings at all.

"The Hamish's" Dumbledore said. "Louise went missing last night, her last two classes have gone without a teacher, it wasn't until miss Jerrad in the first year informed Professor Grout." James said Dumbledore looking at the three. The teachers all gasped.

"Louise?" squeaked Flitwick.

"Professor Hamish." Remus whispered. Sirius looked at the map looking for a small dot marked L.H. He gazed over the map of the grounds and came to a small group of dots that he hadn't seen before. They were in the forbidden forest but it looked as though they were heading towards the main entrance.

"There." Sirius whispered pointing to the group.

"Lets go." James said. He looked up at Dumbledore and saw him nod very slightly. Sirius and Remus saw it too and they all headed for the front entrance.

Lily stared out of the window in her dorm room. The day was very bright and there was a slight breeze that was blowing over the grounds. She sighed and was about to turn away when three figures suddenly appeared running towards the entrance gate. Lily stared at the three figures, one of them was carrying a long silvery cloak and the other a piece of parchment. James and Sirius, that meant the other figure was Remus. What where they doing outside? Lily thought for a while and realised that the only reason they'd be outside was if there was some kind of danger. Lily bolted out of her dorm and to the common room.

"April!" Lily shouted. April materialised beside her.

"You called?" she asked. Lily grabbed her hand and pulled her through the Portrait hole.

"Hurry up" Lily said. April looked at her confused but followed Lily through the castle. They were careful to avoid any teachers but they didn't run into any but they did run into Peeves the Poltergeist.

"Oh, the flower is out on the run with the month, what have you done now?" Peeves asked floating on his back at the same speed as Lily and April. He blew a few raspberries but stopped when Lily and April ran out into the sun. 

"Lily, where are we going?" April asked. She could feel a stitch in her side.

"Helping the Marauders." Lily said. April frowned but forced herself onwards.


	27. Duelling with the enemy

James hid the cloak behind a stone and looked at Sirius and Remus, they had their wands out and were ready to fight off anyone who looked like a death eater.

"Ok, They should be coming any minute" Sirius said looking at the map. He suddenly frowned as he saw two dots with LE and AM over them. "Uh, we have a problem." Sirius said but the first of the deatheaters came out of the forest. They were laughing and had their long cloaks on and their hoods were up. They stopped when they saw the three boys.

"Move aside" the leader growled.

"No, what did you do with Professor Hamish?" James asked standing his ground with his wand out. The deatheaters started laughing.

"The mudblood teacher?" one of them asked, "She's dead, no mudblood is going to teach potions to the future generation." Sirius frowned and looked at Remus. Remus looked slightly pale. It was a few nights until the full moon and Remus was always a bit off colour in that time. The laughing stopped suddenly

"Get out of my way!" the deatheater ordered.

"No." James said. "Expelliarmus" The death eater was knocked backwards and his wand flew out of his hand.

"You want to do this? Fine." The deatheater said. "Kill him." The deatheaters started firing spells and curses at Sirius, James and Remus. They ducked behind a tree and shot the occasional jinx or hex back.

"James!" Lily screamed. A deatheater turned and pointed his wand at her.

"Rictusempra" April shouted, pointing her own wand at him. A jet of silver light shot out of her wand and caused the death eater to double over. Lily pointed her wand at the deatheater 

"Stupefy" Lily said, the deatheater fell to the floor unconscious.

"Why is it that we can knock out the deatheaters but they can't beat us?" April asked as they ran. 

"Where's James?" Lily asked.

"Forget James, what about Sirius." April said. They saw Remus come out from behind a tree and send a green jet of light at a deatheater. The deatheater crashed into the one next to him.

"Stupefy!" Lily said pointing her wand at another deatheater. He heard and dodged the jet of red light just in time. He turned to look at them. He gave a laugh and lowered his hood. Lily and April recognised him instantly. His long platinum blond hair, his evil grey eyes.

"Malfoy." Lily whispered.

"Expelliarmus" April shouted at him. Malfoy dodged that spell.

"Accio wands." He said. Lily gripped onto her wand as it tried to get away from her, April did the same but they couldn't keep their grip on them and they flew to Malfoy.

"Damn." April said. She had fallen onto the floor with the pull of the wand. She got to her feet and stayed near Lily, who looked at Malfoy angrily.

"I recognise you." Malfoy said coming closer. 

"You killed my parents" Lily said. Malfoy thought for a few seconds.

"Ah, yes, the Potters took me. They couldn't keep me though, I soon got out of Azkaban, you have heard that the Dememntors are working for the dark Lord now? Well, you have a choice, join the dark lord or die. Not you of course." He said to Lily, "You're a mudblood so obviously you're going to have to die." Malfoy pointed his wand at Lily.

James glanced past the tree and saw past the deatheaters that Lily and April were at wand point.

 "Get your wands out!" James said though gritted teeth. As soon as he said that he saw their wands in the deatheater's hands.  

"Crucio" the man said. Lily fell to the floor screaming in pain. April looked stunned and didn't know what to do.

"Stay here and keep the deatheaters distracted." James said to Sirius. Sirius looked at him.

"Like we can do anything else" Sirius said. James picked up his cloak and pulled it over him. He ran past the jets of light that were being emitted from the wands and to behind Malfoy. He was laughing sadistically as Lily writhed in pain and April looked to scared to do much. She wanted to but without her wand she was helpless.

"Stupid mudblood. What are you going to do?" he asked April, "Die with your friend or join us?"

"Expelliarmus" James shouted. Malfoy fell forwards and his wand flew out of his hand as did Lily's and April's. "Accio wands." James said. All three wands came at him and he caught them easily. He walked over to where Lily was now lying in the grass. April fell to Lily's side and turned her over so she was facing April. James took his cloak off and stared at Lily concerned.

"Lily!" April said, she couldn't cope with losing another friend.

"She's alright." James said when he saw that Lily was breathing. He threw their wands at April. "Protect her." April took their wands and nodded. James took one look at Lily's unconscious body and turned to Malfoy. Malfoy got up and stared at James.

"Potter!" he spat. 

"Don't you hurt her." James groweled.

"Just like your parents." Malfoy said, "They'll meet a horrid end one day." James stared at Malfoy. He was looking past James now to someone behind them. "Go, Deatheaters, run." He said. The deatheaters turned to look at him and then looked at whoever was behind them and ran. Once they passed the gates the apparated away with some loud cracks. James turned to see Dumbledore approaching with a large number of teachers. Remus looked from the tree and seeing everyone was gone he dragged an injured Sirius from the safety of the tree.

"James." Remus called. James turned and saw Sirius. April also saw and stood up. She looked from Lily to Sirius.

"Go to Sirius, I'll help Lily." James said. April nodded and ran to Sirius' aid. James crouched down and put an arm under lily's shoulders and one under her legs and picked her up. Her head sagged to the side so James pushed it so it was against his chest.

"Potter! What are you doing out here?" McGonagall asked harshly.

"Don't fret Minerva, I told him and his friends to come. As to what Miss. Evans and Marsden are doing out here I would like to know." April helped Remus carry Sirius to where James stood with Lily.

"Lily told me to come with her." April said. "You'd have to ask Lily." April looked at Lily anxiously. Dumbledore nodded.

"Get Miss. Evans and Mr. Black to the hospital wing immediately." Dumbledore said. James, Remus and April started for the castle, accompanied by Professor Sprout and Professor Sinastra.

"Oh, professor" James said turning, "I have one of their wands." James held out the wand as best he could. Dumbledore took it and thanked James.

*    *    *    *

The next day everyone tried to get a peek in the hospital wing whenever they passed. Lily was still unconscious and Sirius had been sent to sleep using a sleeping potion. Sirius had nearly recovered and for Lily it was simply a matter of waiting for her to wake up. Madame Pomfrey had been kind enough to put them in beds right next to each other so when their friends came to visit they could just sit between them. A few girls managed to sneak in and cry over Sirius' injury and completely ignore Lily. When Lily did finally come round about lunchtime the next day James was sitting next to her.

"James?" she asked. James, who had been talking to Sirius, turned to look at her

"Lily." He said relieved. He got up and gave her a tight hug. Lily closed her eyes and hugged James back. When he let go he stared into her eyes.

"Why were you outside yesterday?" he asked seriously. Lily's green eyes sparkled and Lily lowered her gaze. James' eyes so full of concern.

"I saw you, Sirius and Remus and I wanted to know where you were going." Lily said. "It's a good job I went, you were cornered."

"No, you shouldn't have gone." James said, "If anything else had happened to you I would have killed myself." Lily looked into James' eyes. James looked like he would have cried if Sirius wasn't there to watch.

"I'm sorry." Lily said. She pulled James into a kiss and then hugged him tightly. Sirius grinned broadly but then winced as his side hurt again.

"Ah, Miss. Evans, you're awake." Madam Pomfrey said coming out of her office. James let go of Lily and held her hand. "Lets see, you seem to be alright, I think if you spend a few more hours in here then you can go back and stay in your Dormitory tonight."

"What about me?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"You, Mr. Black, will stay here another night." Sirius scowled and crossed his arms. "That was very reckless of all of you." Madame Pomfrey scolded. "Now, Potter, off to lessons. You will see your girlfriend soon." James was shooed away and Lily sat in the hospital bed slightly more depressed. She sank into her bed and stared at the curtain that Madam Pomfrey was pulling around Lily and Sirius' beds so no one could see them.

"Why did you bring April with you?" Sirius asked. Lily turned and stared at Sirius. 

"I don't go anywhere without her." Lily said. 

"You shouldn't have gone." Sirius said. "James, Remus and I only went because we were told to by Dumbledore." Lily pulled the blanket around her tighter.

"Well, I'm sorry." Lily said. Sirius sighed.

"They killed Hamish." Sirius said seriously. Lily sat up, another death! Why? All these people who died were good people why did they die? Sirius looked at Lily sadly and lay down in his bed. Lily put a hand to her head and tried to block everything out. She wanted everything to be the way they had been. Professor Hamish, detached from all the students, her parents sending her regular owls, going out to watch Jenny practice Quidditch in the summer while Lily did her homework on the quidditch stands and making all the boys swoon. Why couldn't everything be the way it had been, everything but Lily's relationship with James.


	28. Bathroom Rendezvouz

The next day there were no classes in memory of Professor Hamish. After Lily had caught up with the work that she'd missed the previous day and after a strenuous embrace from James, April and Remus, for some reason, Lily decided that she wanted a bath, the only problem was that she couldn't get to the head's bathroom because the stupid rules that had been put in place. Lily presented this problem to James and April.

"God, it's your birthday and all you want to do is homework and have a bath?" April asked. She hadn't let go of Lily's arm since Lily had finished doing her homework. It was like she was scared Lily would get hurt again.

"Yeah, it's not like it's a happy birthday anyway." Lily said. "April, you're cutting off my blood supply to my arm." April apologised and let go of her arms. 

"Sorry." She muttered. James saw his opportunity to try and talk to Lily about marriage again. James got out his wand.

"Inhibitum Pregnatus." He muttered. Lily instantly put a hand to her abdomen and looked at James. He gave her a cheeky smile and she gave him a smile. "Be back in a bit." He said running to his dorm to get his invisibility cloak. Lily knew what that spell meant. She felt her heart speed up.

"Have you done all your homework?" April asked a bit too casually.

"Yeah." Lily was still looking towards the stairs that James had gone up.

"Can I borrow it?" April asked.

"Yeah," Lily said. She felt the sofa dip and knew that James was sitting next to her, even if she couldn't see him. April jumped to her feet and ran to get Lily's work. Lily felt an arm around her and suddenly she was under the cloak with James.

"Hi, you need a way to get to the bathroom?" he asked with a smirk.

"Yes," Lily said smiling. James gave Lily a quick kiss and got up with her. He kept the cloak closed over them with one hand and kept the other around Lily. "If we get caught doing this we'll be in so much trouble." Lily whispered as they went through the halls.

"Yeah, well" James said. "It'll be worth it I think." Lily giggled silently. They soon came to the tapestry in front of the prefects common room.

"Lilium." Lily said. The tapestry moved aside and they went into the prefect common room. It was completely empty with a fire roaring in the hearth.

"That's just a waste." James said pointing to the fire. They walked in and James whipped the cloak off them. Lily smiled and took his hand and led him to the bathroom.

"I've just realised that we don't have our bath things." James whispered.

"Who cares?" Lily said smiling. She said the password to the bathroom and pulled James in after her. The door to the bathroom closed and James threw his cloak on the floor and looked at Lily. _This is it_ he thought. He put his hand in his pocket to make sure that the ring was still in there. He sighed with relief when he found it. Lily bent over the taps and turned a few of them. She stood up and looked at James.

"You know, this kinda reminds me of a few months ago." Lily said with a smile.

"Only thing was that last time we weren't dating." James said. He went to Lily and swept her up into a kiss that was deeper and fiercer then any of their other past kisses. Lily returned the kiss hungrily, this time they didn't need to restrain themselves from going too far. 

"Stop it!" Lily screamed as James splashed some water at her. Lily turned her head slightly and then after a while she dared to look at James. Their clothes lay abandoned at the side of the bath and a few towels were strewn around the room. He had gone from where he had been before. Lily frowned. "James?" she asked. She looked around. The water came to just below her shoulders and she turned slowly in the water.

"Boo!" James said popping out of the water in front of her. Lily let out a playful scream as James swept her into his arms and gave her another kiss. Lily put her arms around his body but wasn't entirely sure where she should put her hands. James' body was so well built, his muscles were toned nicely from the quidditch. He kissed her neck and let his hands wander over her body. Lily felt her skin tingle under James' touch. She felt nervous but excited. Lily brought James' face back up to kiss her and they shared another deep kiss. Lily stopped for a moment as she hit the side of the pool sized bath. James looked at her enquiringly.

"You ok?" He asked.

"Never done this before." Lily said nervously. James smiled.

"Don't worry, just do what comes naturally." James said. He pulled Lily's thin, beautiful body against his. His hand wandered down her back and over her bum. He felt Lily shiver slightly and he smiled as he kissed her shoulder. He could feel his hormones overpowering everything and taking control of his body. Lily was already in a minor state of ecstasy when she felt James inside her. She closed her eyes and let James take control. She held onto him tightly and couldn't help herself smiling. She felt James plant kisses all over her neck, shoulders and face. She could feel a very pleasant, very nice warm feeling spread all over her body at the same time her body hummed with every one of his touches. His hands still exploring her body. 

"Tell me if I hurt you." James whispered in a brief pause in his kisses.

"Don't stop." Lily said to him. James grinned and was only too happy to carry out that order. He kissed Lily on the lips and she felt his tongue gently touching hers.

*    *    *    *

About an hour later Lily was lazily teasing James to get back into the bath.

"I'm all pruny." He said.

"So am I." Lily said, "Please James." She pouted slightly. She had come to the conclusion that this birthday was the best one she'd ever had and nothing could make it better. She had just had the best hour of her life with the person she loved most in the entire world. 

"James, please, for me." Lily said. She flicked some water at him and he gave her a playful, angry look. He bent down and rummaged in his robes for a few seconds before removing the towel around his waist and slipping back into the water.

"Happy?" James asked as Lily swam towards him and snaked her arms around his neck. She played with his hair a little and nodded.

"Very." She said. She kissed James lightly and gave him a smile. James gave her an uneasy smile. His stomach felt twisted and empty, he felt more nervous then he did when he played his first house quidditch match.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked, noticing James' uneasiness.

"Nothing, its just that-" James tried to think of a way to say this, he had planned it in his head so many times during the week. He had decided exactly what he was going to say but now it fled from his mind.

"Did I do something wrong?" Lily asked concerned.

"No." James said putting a hand on Lily's wet hair. "You've done nothing wrong it's just that," James floated away slightly. He kept the box under the water so that Lily couldn't see it. "We've been going out for a while haven't we?" Lily nodded. "And I love you so much, more then life itself and because of this I can't imagine a life without you at all. I don't think I could live without you." James pulled the box above water and opened it. The contents were all still dry. "Will you marry me?" he asked. Lily looked slightly shocked, she had **not** been expecting this. She stared at the ring with the three glittering diamonds set in the silver ring. For a moment James felt he'd done the wrong thing but Lily soon broke out in a grin.

"Yes." Lily said happily. James gave a relieved sigh.

"Thank Merlin." He said. He took the ring out and put it on Lily's finger. "I was so scared that you would say no." Lily hugged James tightly and gave him a gentle kiss.

"You should know that I will do anything for you." Lily said.

"Even let me revise from your notes for History of magic?" James said hopefully.

"Ok, so I won't do everything for you." Lily said laughing. James laughed as well and pulled Lily into another kiss.

"I think we should get going, we could be missed." James said.

"Yeah, I really hate being pruny." Lily said grinning. James laughed and gave her another kiss. James helped Lily out of the bath and she pulled a warm fluffy towel off a pile of towels and wrapped it around herself. James climbed out of the bath after her, spilling water everywhere. Lily stepped back as the water stopped by her feet and went back into the bath. James gave Lily another kiss and pulled a towel around his waist. Lily bent over and picked up her wand and pointed it at James. She said a spell, which dried him off instantly and then pointed it on herself. She felt her now dry hair tickle the skin on her back. She was about to pick up her robes when she frowned.

"You got all my clothes wet." Lily said.

"I got my own robes wet." James said picking up his wet wand. He shook it slightly and red sparks shot out the end, narrowly missing a portrait that hung across the bathroom. Lily laughed and waved her wand. She changed into a pair of hipster jeans and a baby pink tee. Her midriff was slightly revealed and James found it slightly difficult to summon his own clothes.

"Can you wait for me just outside?" James said when he realised why he couldn't summon his clothes. Lily rolled her eyes and left the bathroom. She went into the Prefect common room and lay on the sofa. She held her hand up slightly and gazed fondly at her new ring. Her hand looked just perfect with the ring on it. A few minutes later James strolled out dragging a sopping wet invisibility cloak with him. He held it up to show Lily,

"We're going to have to travel without it" James said folding it up.

"Why? Can't you dry it?" Lily said sitting up

"No, it needs to dry the Muggle way." James said. Lily got up and sighed.

"Oh well, we're the head students so we won't get into much trouble." Lily said. James smiled and gave Lily a kiss.

"We better not. I don't want to spoil a perfect day." James said.


	29. Congratulations!

Lily woke up to April shaking her awake the next morning. She still felt her body humming from the night before. As she remembered she smiled and she opened her eyes.

"What are you grinning about?" April asked with a smile. She sat down over Lily's legs and looked at Lily curiously.

"Nothing." Lily said. _Lily Potter, it has a nice ring to it._ Lily thought as she got up and made sure her ring was still on her finger.

"I have a question for you." April said.

"Is it homework because I really don't want to do any work now." Lily said. April looked at Lily shocked,

"You don't want to do homework?" April asked pretending to be shocked. Lily hit her playfully and tried to tug her legs from under April but it didn't work. "Ok, the question I want to ask you is. Why the fuck is there a ring on your wedding finger?" Lily looked at her hand and grinned. She twisted the ring fondly and smiled.

"I'm never going to be single again." Lily said. April's grin broadened.

"Elaborate on that please." April said.

"James and I are getting married!" Lily screamed happily. April gave an excited scream and hugged Lily, knocking her back.

"What are you all screaming about?" complained their roommate, Jessica Lowe. "It's really early." She emerged from her bed.

"Let me see the ring properly." April said. Lily held up her hand and April took it and inspected the ring. "Oh shit, I saw a ring like this in Diagon Alley. It was like the same price as my house." Jessica pulled back Lily's hangings.

"What are you two-" Jessica saw the ring on Lily's finger, "Who gave that to you?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"James." Lily said with a smile. Lily and April had never really gotten along with their other two room mates and Jessica had been colder to Lily since she had started seeing James. Jessica frowned.

"Is it on the right finger?" she asked.

"Of course it is. Now if you excuse me, I want to go and see my fiancé." Lily said. April got up and followed Lily as they both changed and went to the common room. Leaving Jessica staring amazed.

"That sounds so right coming from you" April said. "Lily Potter it has a ring to it doesn't it?" Lily grinned and put her arm through April's

"That's what I was thinking earlier." Lily said. April took Lily's hand again and stared at the ring. 

"You are the luckiest girl on earth. Jenny would be proud." April said. Lily grinned.

"I know. I think I have a guardian angel up there somewhere." Lily said staring at the ceiling.

"What's a guardian angel?" April asked.

"It's a muggle thing. Someone who's dead who watches over you ad helps take care of you." Lily said. April nodded.

"Muggles have really weird ideas don't they?" April said. Lily shook her head nonchalantly and looked around the common room for James. She saw Remus and Peter sitting at a table doing their homework. Lily and April walked over to them and April sat on the table.

"Hey Remus." April said flirtily. Remus looked up slightly bemused.

"Hi April." He said. Lily smiled at the ridiculousness.

"So, you still single?" April asked. She felt a bit weird and Sirius wouldn't care if she flirted with Remus.

"I'm afraid so my dearest April." Remus said.

"Now why would anyone not want to date a strong man like you." April said pouting slightly. Remus laughed slightly.

"When I find out I'll tell you." Remus said.

"Do you know where our beloved Sirius and darling James are?" April asked touching Remus' hand. 

"They've got quidditch practice." Remus said. "Congratulations Lily." Lily, who had only half been listening to their conversation smiled.

"Thanks." Lily said. She felt slightly disappointed that James wasn't here.

"James told me to tell you that he'll be back as soon as he can and he wanted me to kiss you for him but I'm not sure you'd be happy with that." Remus said smirking, "Though I have to admit I wouldn't mind kissing you." Lily looked at Remus pretending to be shocked.

"My my, Remus. Trying to get your best friends fiancé to cheat on him already?" Lily asked. Remus smiled and went back to his work.

"What's the best way of banishing trolls?" Peter asked as he flicked through his Magical beasts and where to find them text book.

"Run as fast as you humanly can?" April said.

"No," Lily said "You just have to-" Lily's sentence faded away as the Gryffindor Quidditch team came in looking quite depressed, except James, as usual. James spotted Lily and made a beeline for her.

"I wondered when you were going to wake up." James said giving Lily a kiss. Lily grinned and touched his face. 

"I love it when you smile." James said. 

"I just love you." Lily said. Remus and April both rolled their eyes as Lily and James kissed again.

*    *    *    *

Lily waited outside the Potions dungeon with April. Other students who took potions were all crowded around the door. Lily played with her ring anxiously as April went on about something that Sirius had said. Lily had noticed that several people were giving her some really evil looks. It was mostly girls, Lily felt that the news that she was engaged had travelled a bit too fast and now several girls were pining over never being able to get with James again. 

"Girlies" came Sirius' voice from down the corridor. April shut up and turned to look. Lily turned as well and saw the Marauders walking towards them. James had his hand in a bandage and was swinging his injured hand around him. Lily frowned slightly. James grinned when he saw Lily and when he got to her he gave her a kiss.

"What happened to your hand?" Lily asked.

"Oh, it got chomped by a Chimera" James said. Lily frowned even more. "Don't worry, it'll be better by dinner." Lily gave James a sceptical look. He was about to kiss her again when Professor Grout walked down the corridor.

"Could we please leave the intimacy to the common room please." He said as he walked into the Potions classroom. Lily and James broke apart and a few Slytherins sniggered. Everyone went into the classroom and sat down. 

"I'm afraid that I will be covering your lessons while the head master tries to find a replacement." Grout said. "Of course, I will be making you work a lot harder then the late Professor Hamish but I assure you that I will not be too strict as this isn't my class."

"That's a relief." Sirius said, "but can he keep his word?"

"Five points from Gryffindor" Grout said. Lily and April turned to look at Sirius, who merely shrugged. "I have looked through the notes and class plans that Professor Hamish left and I will be following them closely. Today we will be revising Healing Draughts and for homework I will ask you to write an essay on the magical properties of the more unusual healing herbs." Grout said. "Please write full essay like answers to the questions on the board" Grout flicked his wand at the board and a list of questions appeared. "Please work in silence."

*    *    *    *

Grout accompanied the class to the Great hall so that the students could have their lunch. Lily and James, as head students had to ensure that all the students ate something and didn't go sneaking off but, as April pointed out, James and Lily were the ones most likely to sneak off. Lily had hexed April for that comment and April had spent an hour in the hospital wing.

"When do you want the wedding?" James asked as he gave Lily a cup of pumpkin juice at dinner.

"I don't know," Lily said. "But it's bad luck to have a wedding within three months of getting engaged."

"There's no problem of that happening." April said. "There's about three months of school left."

"Can I be your maid of honour Lily?" Sirius said putting his hands together as if praying. April nearly choked on her drink and spat it back out into her cup. Lily did almost choke on the steak and kidney pie she was eating and James and Remus looked at him amused.

"Excuse me?" Lily asked. She was slightly red in the face and looked at Sirius incredulously.

"May I please be your maid of honour?" Sirius asked.

"Sorry, that position has already been taken." Lily said turning to April with a smile. April gave Sirius a smug smile.

"You are going to get some punishment later." Sirius said pointing at April. April flicked her eyebrows up and ate the food on the end of her fork.

"Looking forwards to it." April said. Sirius gave her a cheeky grin and slapped the table making Lily jump.

"Nothing scares this girl." Sirius said. April grinned and leaned across the table to kiss Sirius. When she came away Sirius seemed almost hypnotised. April kicked him under the table and he snapped out of it. James smiled and put an arm around Lily's shoulders. Lily looked at him happily and returned to eating.

"Well, there are a few things that scare me." April said.

"And what's that, Miss. Marsden?" Sirius asked her.

"That's for me to know." April said. "And you to find out." April teased. Lily laughed silently at that and April grinned.

"Lily?" came a soft voice behind them. Lily turned to see Lee Chang standing behind her.

"Lee." Lily said. She stood up and gave the girl a hug. "How are you doing?"

"Not as good as you." Lee said with a smile. "I heard about you and James. Congratulations." Lily smiled.

"Thanks." She said. "How did you find out so quickly?"

"Oh, everyone knows." Lee said. "half the Ravenclaw girls are actually really annoyed."

"So is every other girl in this school" April said getting up as well. She gave Lee a tight sisterly hug. "Ready for your OWLs?" April asked.

"They're two months away." Lee said.

"So?" April said. "I'm ready for the NEWTs"

"No you're not." Lily said.

"Ok, Lily's ready for the NEWTs. No doubt you're all ready. You are in Ravenclaw after all" April said. Lee smiled, pleased by the fact that April had so much faith in her.

"No, not really. The teachers are trying to get us to work harder but I'm not really working." Lee said modestly.

"It's not that difficult" Lily said. "Just concentrate on remembering everything."

"Great advice Lily." April said clapping. Lily rolled her eyes and gave Lee a smile.

"Thanks for coming over." Lily said. "Could you tell your parents? I think they'd like to know but I haven't got an owl."

"Oh, no problem." Lee said. "Congratulations again." Lee added before turning to go back to the Ravenclaw table.

"She's doing well I think" April said.

"Yeah." Lily replied. "Oh crap, two months till NEWTs" They were only a short distance away and it hit her suddenly.


	30. Exams are Over

A/N:- this isn't the last chapter but I really like this chapter, I was listening to some really really really happy and emotional music as I was writing this so I hope you like this chapter particularly, There will be a sequel to this story, it's going to be called **Death is the Way…..**Happy title I know! But I've finished this story and I've already started on the next one.

The NEWTs drew close all to quickly for anyone's liking and before long all the Seventh years were put in exams and were taking practical exams. Lily thought they were quite hard but she managed to get through them without much distress. April thought she'd done ok as well but felt she'd completely messed up her history of magic exam and she'd accidentally done a Patronus charm instead of one that she was told to do. Having been the first time she'd cast the charm, April did well as a large dog shot out of the end of her wand to her surprise. The Marauders were not coping as well as the girls. Peter completely messed up his Potions exams, James forgot to do a question on his Defence against the dark arts but the other two did alright. The final day of the exams drew near and all April and Lily wanted to do was sleep. Their brains were completely fried and were almost a mushy pulp.

It didn't help that the security measures were still being conducted on the school so Lily couldn't go to the library to do any last minute revision. She couldn't do it in the common room because she was always getting distracted by James. April also found it difficult to revise with Sirius around so the girls spent all their time in the dorm room.

"April, transfiguration exam" Lily said tiredly from her bed.

"I know." April muttered. "Just another ten minutes." April didn't get those last ten minutes as an owl shot through the window that Jessica had opened and flew straight over Lily as she turned to get up and crashed into April's hangings. April gave a loud cry of alarm and fell out of her bed. Lily laughed.

"You'll make a great Auror one day." Lily said. April made a face at Lily and took the letter from the owl.

"It's a bit early for mail isn't it?" April asked. Lily shrugged as she pulled her uniform on.

"Who's it from?" Lily asked.

"My parents." April said. "'Good luck in your exams, we know it's a bit late but we've been to visit your sister in America and there wasn't any way of contacting you as she doesn't have an owl. I hope you and Lily are safe and happy. Please congratulate Lily for us, she'll make an amazing wife. Again, good luck with your exams, we'll have a present waiting when you get home. Lots of love, mum and dad'" April read. Lily looked at her darkly and pulled her robes on over her uniform.

"Say thanks to them for me." Lily said. Lily picked up her wand and checked it over quickly as she had done every day in the past two weeks. April watched Lily's sudden change in mood.

"Are you alright?" April asked. "You don't seem to be in a good mood anymore."

"I'm fine." Lily said, red sparks shot out of the end of her wand in her frustration.

"Obviously you're not." April said. Lily stopped moving around her bed and stopped, a few tears escaped from Lily's eyes. April got up and put her arms around Lily when she saw her starting to cry.

"It's just that-" Lily wiped her eyes. "I always thought that I'd be taking the NEWTs with Jenny by our side, joking about how Jamie can't do Potions or how Jeffrey is a total bastard but she's not here with us. And every year I've gotten a good luck note from my parents and now I think I took that for granted because they're not here and I can't get married with one of my best friends gone and my parents absent because they're all dead and-" Lily stopped her very quick spilling of her feelings and let April hug her tightly. 

"I know." April said. "It doesn't seem right." 

"It's all wrong." Lily said. "It's not supposed to be like this." April sympathised with her friend and held her at arms length.

"Look at me Lily." April said getting Lily to look at her directly. "You're clever, smart and beautiful and you're going to pass these exams. When we leave school you're going to get married to the boy, no the man you love. Do you know how jealous I am of you? Do you know how jealous Jenny was of you?" April asked, "Don't let some bastard of a dark lord spoil your life just because our histories are different. This is the way it's meant to be though it doesn't seem right. You've been stronger then I have through all this and I know you can live through this dark time. Now cheer up and smile. James is waiting downstairs and if we don't leave soon we'll be late for a transfiguration exam." April said smiling. Lily couldn't help but smile at April's small pep talk.

"You're right." Lily said with a sigh. "We'll be late. Get ready quickly." April let go of Lily to get ready quickly while Lily wiped her eyes. April was right, Lily was being stupid. April was ready quite quickly, the two girls picked up their bags and rushed downstairs where the boys were waiting.

"Sorry we're a bit late." Lily said. "We had a bit of a problem."

"What was it?" James asked taking Lily's hand as they walked to the Great hall for their exam.

"I just started crying, nothing important." Lily said dismissively. They were, for once, allowed to travel around the castle unsupervised. The seventh years had had a few rules lifted the previous night so that they may enjoy their last few weeks in school.

"What about?" James asked concerned. April and Sirius had gone ahead slightly with Remus and Peter.

"It wasn't anything important. I just got a suddenly felt upset about Jenny, mum and dad." Lily said. 

"Oh, I'm guessing April helped you out?" James asked as they came to the end of a long line.

"Yeah, well see you after the exam." Lily said giving James a quick kiss and going to her place. The line was in houses and alphabetic order. They all went into the exam. Dumbledore stood at the front of the hall waiting for everyone to go into the hall and take their seats. Lily glanced back to April curiously but she just shrugged. Lily looked forwards and saw Sirius mouth something to James, who was sitting in the next row in front of them.

"Please, when you are ready I would just like to say a few things before you start your exam." Dumbledore said. His bright blue eyes glittered with happiness but had a bit of sadness in them as well. "As you know, this is your last exam and therefore the last bit of education you will be forced to do in this school. Before I wish you good luck I would just like to say that after the exam you will be free to go to Hogsmeade for the afternoon and free to wander the grounds but I must ask you to exercise extreme caution. Good luck and you may begin." Dumbledore smiled and test papers appeared on the tables.

*    *    *    *

"Your time is up" Dumbledore said, "Please put your quills down." There was a rustling in the hall as everyone finished looking through their papers and put their quills in their bags.

"Accio" Dumbledore said. The parchments with the answers on sped to the front of the hall. "Now I would like to wish you all the best of luck for your futures, no doubt that you will find jobs to suit you all and find happiness in others." Lily saw Dumbledore gaze at her and James for a few seconds. "Now go and enjoy your remaining days at Hogwarts." Dumbledore said with a smile Everyone rushed to get up and in a few minutes Lily as out in the summer sun. The weather was hot and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. A perfect day to end the exams. She could see a little way off the giant squid was waving it's tentacles in the air.

"How did the exam go?" James asked Lily as he snaked an arm around her waist.

"Not that bad I have to say" Lily said. She gave James a deep kiss. School was almost officially over.

"I can't believe it's nearly over." April said looking slightly amazed. Sirius came running out of the school and nearly knocked the three over. 

"It's over." He shouted. He did knock April to the floor and gave her a kiss. April laughed and happily returned the kiss. Remus and Peter caught up with them, Remus looked slightly tired with Sirius' behaviour but he laughed.

"Hogsmeade?" Remus asked.

"Why not." Lily said smiling. "We haven't been since October." April let out a scream as Sirius started tickling her.

"Lily, help me!" she screamed. Lily was very tempted to just let Sirius keep tickling her but she got out her wand. A jet of blue light came out the end and Sirius was sent sprawling on the floor and April got up breathlessly.

"Lily!" Sirius said pretending to be upset. He got up and put an arm around April's shoulder as James put his arm back around Lily's waist. The six teens headed for the main entrance and went to the Three Broomsticks. They found seats near a large window. Lily looked around the place. So many memories, so many emotions. As if James could sense what she was sensing he pulled her closer and kissed her forehead.

"Butterbeers?" asked Madame Rosemerta.

"Yes please." April said. 

"Exams over and done with then?" Madame Rosemerta asked.

"Yes, school is finally over!" Remus said letting his hair down for a while.

"Congratulations." Madame Rosemerta said. "I'll get a few treats from Honeydukes then." Madame Romesmerta disappeared.

"So, what now?" James asked.

"Marriage." Lily said giving James a kiss on the lips.

"Can't wait." James said. Madame Rosemerta returned a few minutes later with a large tray with mugs of butterbeer and a pile of treats from Honeydukes. Each of the six took a mug of the drink.

"To Marriage." James said holding his drink up and taking Lily's hand.

"To Jenny" April said holding hers up.

"To quidditch" Sirius said.

"To the Marauders" Peter said.

"To happiness" Remus said. Everyone had made their toast and looked at Lily to make her toast. She put her mug in with the others.

"To the future." Lily said with a grin as Madame Rosemerta appeared again with a camera.


	31. Another year, Another end

"Another year and another end. It has been a very sad year to say the least with the death of our beloved potions master and several of our dear friends and family. I hope that you have all learnt a few lessons throughout the year, be it academic or to do with life. Some of you have formed new bonds and others have just formed new friendships. In this dark time all I can hope is that we can all strive to make a brighter future" Dumbledore said. Sirius stared at his plate hungrily. April had a hand on his back and was watching Dumbledore carefully.

"I would like to say a few more things before we eat. I wish the Seventh years the best of luck in their lives and hope that they may enjoy their future." All the seventh years, regardless of their house clapped. "And one last announcement. As you can see the winners of both the quidditch cup and the house cup this year is Gryffindor!" All the Gryffindors started cheering. The Marauders stopped clapping earlier then the other students and as the plates began to fill up with food James made a signal to the others. They all nodded and started to eat. 

"Ok, I think we should do it now." James said.

"No, wait a little longer, people are still eating." April said. For once the Marauders had let April and Lily in on their trick.

"Ok, five more minutes." Sirius said. April smiled that she'd gotten her way, even if it was only by five minutes. Five minutes later April looked at Lily. Lily nodded and got up, a few people watched her curiously, wondering where she was going. She walked to the entrance of the hall and saw Peeves floating around the entrance hall.

"Can I go now?" Peeves asked. For once he was listening to someone other than the bloody baron.

"Remember which house?" Lily asked Peeves, handing him a bag of ink pellets. The ink had been specially formulated by James and Sirius.

"Slimy Slytherins." Peeves said. Lily smiled and Peeves took this cue to float through the wall. Lily returned to the hall where Peeves was shooting ink pellets at the Slytherins. She stood by the doors and saw the Marauders send small jets at the various house tables. Within minutes the hall was filled with fireworks, confetti, streamers. Everything you could think of that you could have at a festival there was. Everyone in the hall stood up and started cheering. Dumbledore gave a small laugh and stood up. Everyone went completely silent.

"The Marauders!" Dumbledore said holding his hand out to where Sirius, James, Remus and Peter were sitting. James and Sirius immediately stood up and bowed. Everyone started cheering, everyone but the Slytherins, that is, who were covered in ink that she knew wouldn't come off for at least two weeks. Lily started laughing as James and Sirius set off a couple more fireworks, which made the glittering formation of the Hogwarts crest. They slapped hands and sat down.

*    *    *    *

"We're there." April said looking out of the window in their carriage. Lily had been dreading this moment, arriving at platform nine and three quarters. It meant it was really over but also because her parents wouldn't be meeting her. Lily looked at James who was giving her a smile.

"Are you sure you don't want to come to my house?" April asked, "Instead of this slime bag Potter's house?" Lily smiled.

"No, I'll go to his house. I will have to learn to live with him sometime." Lily said.

"I'm sitting right here." James said. 

"We know." Lily said. Lily watched Sirius quite interested as he tried to make a turban with James' invisibility cloak.

"He's stealing you away from me." April moaned to Lily, "Please come and stay for a while."

"He's my fiancé." Lily said "I can't stay with you but I promise you as soon as we have our own place you can stay as often as you want." April smiled. Lily got a photo out of her pocket. It was the six of them all in the Three Broomsticks laughing with their mugs of butterbeer.

"It was really nice of Madame Rosemerta to take this photo for us" Lily said happily.

"Even nicer that she gave us all a copy" April said.

"What is it with Girls and photos? It's just a photo" Sirius said as his head disappeared under the invisibility cloak turban

"It's a piece of history. This was our last day of exams." April said like it had meaning. Sirius mimicked April and received a punch in the side followed by a kiss

*    *    *    *

They got their luggage and made their way to the platform.

"Look, it's mudblood Evans and Pothead Potter." Sneered Snape as he approached them from behind.

"What do you want Snape?" James asked.

"You know that now you're not under Dumbledore's gaze you won't be under any protection, be careful, I'll be watching." Snape said. Snape wandered off into the muggle world leaving Lily and James quite confused.

"Come on!" Sirius shouted. James pushed the trolley with his and Lily's things on it and pushed it through the barrier. 

"Please?" April asked one last time as they all approached Mrs. Potter.

"Sorry." Lily said. She gave April a tight sisterly hug. They had already made plans to see each other the next day. April hugged her tightly as well. "I'll see you tomorrow." Lily said.

"Ok." April said grinning.

"You come over whenever you want." Said Mrs. Potter to April. April beamed and told Sirius to pushed her trolley for her. "Come on you two." Mrs. Potter said to James and Lily, taking the trolley for them.


End file.
